VIDEO: £1.45m spent on Leighton's '˜superb' tip revamp

The £1.45m tip refurbishment work is part of a wider investment by Central Beds Council to modernise and improve all Household Waste Recycling Centres across the district to ensure they are easy to use and equipped to meet future needs as demands increase due to a growing population.

The council says the Leighton Buzzard site now has improved layout and a modern split-level design that will allow residents to more easily dispose of their waste into containers from an elevated platform. Residents will also be able to recycle a wider range of materials there.

Councillor Budge Wells, Deputy Executive Member for Community Services, performed the ribbon cutting ceremony.

He said: “This modern split-level site is larger, safer, quicker and much easier to use.

“There is a greater number of bins which increases our ability to recycle.”

The Shenley Hill Road dump shut on July 17 and residents have been anxious to see it reopen, having been forced to use other Tidy Tips such as Dunstable.

Cllr Wells pointed out that Leighton’s tip had had a distinct problem compared to earlier council revamps of sites in Biggleswade and Ampthill. He said subsidence issues, due to its location on a former landfill site, had been addressed in the revamp, with 8 metres depth/300 loads of filling material needed to stabilise the land.

He said: “The Environment Agency had problems with our old site in terms of drainage. This site was flattened and then we built it up.

“Most importantly now we have many more bins so you can collect items that we couldn’t collect before.

“It has come in on schedule and on budget.

“This superb waste centre is open for business.

“We want to thank all residents for bearing with us while the much-needed redevelopment work took place and for their continued efforts to recycle.”

A temporary garden waste facility was set up for several Sundays at Vandyke Upper School during the tip closure, and Councillor Wells thanked the school for its cooperation.