COUNCILLORS are set to consider the cost of operating a new recycling centre in Blaenau Gwent – and decide how many days it will open.

Blaenau Gwent council has been awarded £2.8 million from the Welsh Government to develop a second Household Waste Recycling Centre (HWRC) at Roseheyworth Business Park in Abertillery.

The waste centre is expected to open in June and will operate alongside the borough’s existing New Vale HWRC in Ebbw Vale.

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A council report to be considered at a special meeting next Thursday recommends for both sites to open six days a week.

Under the preferred option, the New Vale site would close on a Wednesday and the Roseheyworth HWRC would shut on Thursdays.

The costs of operating both facilities for 12 months based on a six day a week opening are £242,000.

Operating both sites for seven days, another option to be considered by councillors, would cost £307,400 – leaving the council a deficit of £65,000.

The third option would be to open both sites five days a week, costing £176,470.

Costs will be less during the first 10-month year, with the site expected to open in June.

A report says the costs are based on staff being paid the foundation living wage, and that staffing requirements at both sites will be reviewed during the first year and “potentially could be reduced further.”

The second waste centre is expected to boost the council’s recycling performance, saving an estimated £108,000, to fund operational costs.

It is also expected to have a “positive impact” on the Ebbw Fach Valley, which has been called “probably the worst in the borough” for fly-tipping.

The council proposes to reduce the number of its street cleansing gangs from five to four as a result, saving £95,400.

A voluntary redundancy within the authority’s neighbourhood services department is also expected to save £39,000, which will go towards operational costs.

Council leader, Cllr Nigel Daniels, has previously said the new waste centre will be ‘crucial’ to meeting future Welsh Government recycling targets, which rise to 70 per cent in 2024-25.

The authority was fined £77,800 for failing to hit targets in 2016/17.

But leader of the Labour group, Cllr Steve Thomas, has raised questions over the ‘huge’ costs of the facility – and has called for assurance it will boost recycling rates.

“It’s a lot of money and revenue for something that is not guaranteed to increase the recycling rate,” he said.