The debate over the future of Keighley's tip has rumbled on – despite last week’s announcement that a plan to close it is being reconsidered.
The closure of the Keighley Household Waste Recycling Centre was proposed last year as one of several ways Bradford Council could make savings in its 2023/24 budget.
After a huge public outcry, Council bosses last week announced that that had asked officers to look at other ways of saving money that would allow the tip to remain open.
At a meeting of the Council’s Executive last week, members heard that over 800 people had objected to the tip as part of the Council’s budget consultation.
A petition against the tip closure, separate to the budget consultation, had collected over 7,000 names.
This petition had been put to a meeting of the Council last month, although it had been queried by officers, who said not all the names were accompanied by a signature.
At last Tuesday’s Executive Councillor Moshin Hussain (Lab, Keighley Central) said: “I thank all the residents that went through the proper channels to let their views be known.”
This week Conservative Group Leader, Councillor Rebecca Poulsen, criticised this comment, saying: “Having been hugely impressed by the level of organisation and determination shown by the people of Keighley who have rapidly organised and publicised a petition calling for the retention of the Keighley Waste Recycling Centre, I have been somewhat surprised by the actions of Labour Councillor Hussain.
“It would appear that he and his fellow Labour Councillors, who proposed the closure of the centre, regard the views of 823 residents contained in the formal Budget Proposals consultation feedback, as having opposed the proposal in the ‘correct’ manner, clearly, blatantly implying that the 7,000 plus residents who expressed their opposition to the closure in a petition, have not opposed the proposal in the ‘correct’ manner.
“The Labour Council does sometimes seem a tad confused as to what is and isn’t the correct way for the residents of Bradford District to express their disapproval of their often seemingly clueless antics.
“I suspect that many of the 823 residents who objected to the proposed closure of the waste recycling centre via the Budget Consultation process, became aware of the consultation due to the very hard work of the petitioners.
“My Conservative Group colleagues and I believe that were it not for the hard work of the petitioners and the media coverage it attracted, the Labour Council would have closed the Keighley Waste Recycling Centre without having to now look again at this closure and these residents deserve recognition not criticism”.
In response to the Conservative Group’s comments, Cllr Hussain said: “The petition garnered the 20 signatures required and every one of those is valuable and has been heard.
“As Labour Councillors for Keighley we have focussed throughout our campaign on getting people to write to the Council’s consultation process so we were pleased when we heard that 823 people had done just that, showing the strength of feeling Keighley residents have about this issue.
“Regardless of what route people have taken to give their views, we’re just pleased that the Council’s Executive has heard their voice and asked officers to look at the proposal again.”
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