Hampshire and Portsmouth warn people to book at tips 7 days in advance

Both Portsmouth and Hampshire councils brought in the online bookings system at their Household Waste Recycling Centres to alleviate long queues of traffic looking to dispose of rubbish as lockdown eased.

Portsmouth City Council’s cabinet member for environment, Cllr Dave Ashmore, said: ‘The HWRC booking system has been successful in reducing queuing at the sites during peak times.

‘It maximises the sites opening hours and lets our residents plan their trip.’

During the first two weeks, 100 per cent of online slots were filled with the council warning ‘at the moment a booking a slot is about six to seven days in advance’.

Cllr Ashmore added: ‘Can we please just remind people to cancel their slots if they no longer need them, this frees up the space for other residents.’

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The system has also proven to be a success across the county.

County council leader, Cllr Keith Mans, said: ‘The new booking system is working well and has eliminated lengthy traffic queues which were causing problems when the sites first reopened.

‘We’ve been able to increase the number of slots available each day to 5,000 and people can book up to a week in advance.

‘Inevitably, some sites are busier that others and the number of vehicles that can access sites at any one time varies depending on the size of the HWRC, but generally people are able to book slots at convenient times.’

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