Booking system plan for county's tips criticised

Plans to introduce a booking system for Lincolnshire's tips in a bid to reduce queues have been cricitised by a councillor.

Lincolnshire County Council is set to introduce the new system in November in response to complaints about excessive waits at some of the county's 11 sites.

Danny Brookes, Reform UK executive for the environment, said the system would "reduce congestion, improve site safety, tackle misuse by non-residents and commercial operators."

However, Conservative group leader Richard Davies criticised the approach, and called for a solution tailored to each location.

The plans were discussed at a full council meeting on Friday, with the parties failing to reach a consensus.

A Conservative motion to reallocate just under £300,000 of unspent money towards the sites was voted down, with Reform councillors saying it would barely make a dent in solving the problems.

The council said the amount of waste had increased by 50% since 2021 and the centres now received more than 1.2 million visits per year, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Brookes said: "We've had a lot of complaints about queuing, with local residents and businesses not being able to access their properties.

"We've got to do something, and we think a booking system is the best answer.

"Booking will take a couple of minutes, if that. You can book online or on your phone, like most people book for the hairdresser or garage.

"We believe there should be six-day coverage in Lincolnshire, not five, and if we get the data to back it up then we'll certainly be looking at it."

In response, Davies said: "The council is saying we're going to solve the lack of access by making it more difficult to use the service.

"We've trialled it during Covid when everybody had to be separated [and] it was deeply unpopular, slowed things down, created a real headache for people.

"We need a solution tailored for each location, whether it's rearranging the layout, adjusting how traffic backs up, or different and longer opening hours."

He dismissed the idea of what he described as "a one size fits all solution.

"We don't think the booking system is the right answer."

Brookes claimed more than 50% of all local authorities in England now had a booking system, adding: "We're getting feedback from them and they say it's working and the residents are actually liking it once they get involved in it."

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