Action Group launches funding drive to reopen Bledlow Household Recycling Centre

A Bledlow Household Recycling Centre (HRC) Action Group has been set up led by County Councillors Bill Bendyshe-Brown and Carl Etholen with the aim of reopening the HRC as a commercial enterprise which was closed by Buckinghamshire County Council (BCC) on March 31, 2019, despite huge opposition from local residents.

Responding to this enormous opposition within their local communities, leaders from 10 local Town and Parish Councils, including Thame, have also joined the Action Group.

The HRC was used by 95,000 members of the public every year from across the region including some 30% of the users coming from Oxfordshire. These users now have to travel to either High Wycombe, Aylesbury, Aston Clinton, Oxford or Watlington resulting in an estimated additional 4,100 tons of CO2 and 3100 kilos of NOx + PMs being emitted into the atmosphere based on a normal small sized car.

The Action Group has set up a Community Interest Company (CIC) and a Just Giving account and are asking members of the public to subscribe to their fund to enable a planning application to be made to BCC to enable the HRC’s reopening. Bill Bendyshe-Brown said: “The petition raised to object to the closure received nearly 4,500 signatures and we are hoping that members of the public will respond in large numbers to support our funding drive. We require a minimum of £10,000 for the planning application but significantly more to restore the site to enable it to be used again.”

Thame’s Mayor, Ann Midwinter, said: “We believe passionately that this is a worthwhile cause and our Council has contributed £500 towards the planning application. Our residents and others around our local area used Bledlow HRC regularly and they feel strongly that they want it to reopen.” The Mayor of Princes Risborough Town Council, Matt Walsh, also added his support: “With nearly 2,500 homes to be built in Princes Risborough over the coming years, let alone the big developments in Chinnor, Longwick and over 1,000 homes to be built on Haddenham airfield, reopening the Bledlow HRC is essential to meet this increased local demand. We fully support this funding drive and initiative.”

The Just Giving Page by the Action Group is now open for donations. It was officially launched on Thursday, July 25, outside the closed gates of the Bledlow HRC.

Visit webpage: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/BledlowHRC