It was on Wednesday, April 30th local Labour councillors were contacted by the Clacton Gazette to say the Gazette was in possession of a leaked document indicating that the Tories running Essex County Council intend to close our tip (Household Waste Recycling Centre) in West End Lane, Dovercourt. The Tories crazy thinking is to create a system under which no one has to travel more than 10 miles to dispose of their rubbish and the residents of Harwich, Dovercourt, Ramsey and Parkeston could do this at Lawford.
The suggestion from County Hall is our Dovercourt Recycling Centre is under used which indicates no one involved in the decision has visited the site to see the long queues in West End Lane which can often result in a half hour wait to get rid of rubbish and garden waste.
Harwich Labour’s immediate reaction was one of incredulity and then anger. Once we had talked to the journalists to confirm what we were hearing was accurate the Harwich Branch Labour Party immediately started making plans to fight the closure, in doing so, we are not in competition or conflict with other local political parties. We believe everyone locally sees this as an outrageous and a counterproductive proposal. We hope everyone will join with us in fighting against the proposed closure plans.
We have launched a petition via a Facebook page ‘Petition to Save Dovercourt Tip’ which can be signed on hard copies or online click HERE. So far the response has been fantastic; at Friday’s Dovercourt Street Market we collected over 350 signatures in under two hours. Everyone who signed was saying the same things:
“What’s the point of cleaning up the town if they close the tip and encourage fly tipping?”
“No one is going to drive 10 miles to Lawford just to get rid of grass cuttings.”
“How much more are they going to take away from Harwich?”
“Good luck in trying to stop this. It’s ridiculous!”
We can’t promise to stop this closure but we do promise to try. With your support we will make sure that Essex County Council sees the error of its ways. We hope Essex County Council will do the right thing.
LINKS:
PDF download for printing: Petition to SAVE Dovercourt Tip – Cover sheet.
PDF download: Continuation sheets
Completed sheets can be collected by arrangement email HarwichLabourParty@gmail.com or please deliver to 73, Ashley Road, Dovercourt.
For further information please contact:
Harwich Branch Labour Press Officer, Garry Calver on 01255-551940
