Sir – If anyone is travelling through Chipping Norton, Charlbury, Chadlington and neighbouring villages and hears strange noises it is only the gnashing of teeth and cries of anguish because our well-used and popular waste disposal unit and recycling centre at Dean Pit has been closed.
The official reasons for closing Dean Pit are that we no longer need it but West Oxfordshire district councillors are hoping to open a new site similar to Dean about three miles up the road.
Closure of Dean will cost an estimated £100,000; creating the new site £200,000. How many rural libraries could £300,000 save?
The other reason given is that county and district councillors claim that it would cost £1m to upgrade Dean Pit if it stayed open.
However, the Environment Agency say they had no objection to Dean continuing as a permanent site (with small modifications) and have never asked for a £1m upgrade.
Oxfordshire County Council, under the Freedom of Information Act, was asked how much it had costed for the upgrade and said they had not done a costing, as Dean Pit was going to close anyway. A totally circular argument. So where does this £1m figure come from?
Ann Harper, Charlbury
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