Sadly, at a meeting last week, East Lothian Council voted against the request to reopen the facility at Macmerry and instead wants residents to use facilities located at Kinwegar near Wallyford, North Berwick and Dunbar.
I am deeply disappointed by the decision, which means the facility will now remain closed, meaning inconvenience for residents, longer journey times, more congestion and increased carbon emissions.
While I accept that the council faces cost and revenue pressures, I made proposals during the meeting to save £300,000 annually – four times the £75,000 saving made by mothballing and then closing the centre at Macmerry.
I believe it is deeply regrettable that three out of four councillors voted to ignore the wishes of the 2,168 East Lothian residents who have signed the petition for the facility to be reopened.
The councillors voting against reopening were Councillor John McMillan, Councillor Lee Anne Menzies and Councillor Norman Hampshire. Only Councillor Jeremy Findlay sided by the petitioners to vote to reopen Macmerry.
If you wish to follow up on this, I encourage you to write to your local councillors to express your views.
I strongly believe that East Lothian Council needs to make recycling easily accessible to residents, who recently faced the removal of free garden waste collections and three-weekly general bin collections.
Please rest assured that I will continue to press the council to make sure your voice is heard on this and other matters.
I am keen to engage and happy to help so, please do get in touch.
