North Somerset Council has reluctantly accepted a significant rent increase for its recycling depot to ensure it continues to meet its legal obligations for waste collection.
The council does not own the recycling depot at Westland Distribution Park, where its waste team operates. The landlord, AEW UK REIT Plc, recently notified the council of lease termination, effective next year.
Without access to this facility, the council would face either spending millions more on transporting waste outside the area or risk failing its statutory waste collection duties.
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To avoid disruption, the council has secured a new lease through to 2031. However, a break clause means the council’s tenure is not guaranteed beyond July 2028. Securing this lease came with a 30% increase in rent, raising the annual cost from £224,000 to approximately £291,500.
A council spokesperson stated that negotiations had been pursued “to the fullest extent possible”. Cabinet member for assets, Steve Bridger, emphasised: “There isn’t realistically an alternative within the timescale available to us and without these premises at Westland, we would risk failing to deliver the statutory waste collection service from next spring.”
In a full council meeting, members approved the initiation of a new waste depot and recycling centre project on council-owned land. While an initial £2.5 million has been allocated for design work, the overall cost of the new facility is anticipated to reach approximately £56 million upon completion.
The new centre will not be operational before July 2028. AEW UK REIT Plc is reportedly considering redevelopment plans for the current site but has no immediate intentions to proceed.
Should the existing depot close prior to the new site opening, the council could incur costs estimated at £4.6 million to transport recycling waste to alternative locations. Council officers are working to minimise the risk of an early closure and regard this figure as a ‘worst-case scenario’.
Besides providing a waste depot free of lease constraints, the new facility will include a recycling centre to replace the current one on Aisecombe Road in Weston-super-Mare, which the council considers unsuitable for long-term use.
The planned site for the new facility is the former Avoncrest landfill, located just across from the existing recycling centre.