Flooding on the road leading to Dorchester’s recycling centre has led to fresh calls for a new site to be found.

Local councillors say it illustrates the fact that the tip, at Louds Mill, is in the wrong place and inadequate for the town.

They point to the facilities enjoyed by Bridport, Weymouth and Wareham which they say are all much better than in the county town.

Flooding on the road leading to the Dorchester tip this week resulted in some, less adventurous, drivers turning back.

I saw several cars return without reaching the tip when they came across the water-logged road – about 20 per cent of all the vehicles approaching the tip over a 15-minute period.

Said Dorset Council and town councillor Les Fry: “I would very much like to see Dorset Council act and bring the Dorchester recycling centre into the modern world, the current site is outdated, far too small and difficult for people with mobility issues to access. The site is inefficient as staff frequently close the gates to move containers, resulting in long queues as people wait to recycle.

“We urgently need a better located, modern, accessible centre where people can maximise recycling opportunities as part of the Counties response to climate change”.

His views are echoed by fellow councillors Stella Jones and Molly Rennie. Mrs Jones says she has tried for about 40 years to persuade the former county council and now Dorset Council to do something about the growing problem.

“The recycling centre should be located away from houses, with access from a main road, like the one at Bridport .

The access to the tip is appalling. The wide new road (Lubbecke Way), which goes past houses, leads to a very inadequate narrow drive hardly wide enough for vehicles to pass each other. There is insufficient parking at the centre, so cars are often queuing on this narrow road, and when one of the containers is bring removed the centre is closed as there is no room for the large lorry.

“The containers are all up steps which make it difficult for handling heavy bags of rubbish, new centres have ground level collections.

"It is also too close to the river which could lead to pollution to the river.

"The whole centre is outdated and is too small to be renovated into a modern tip. It is on land owned by Wessex Water who may one day need to expand the sewage works.

“A new site, on the edge of town, should be found and developed now.”

Said Cllr Rennie: “The road to the tip has been flooding and the edges falling away into pot holes and huge puddles for far too long due to the fact it is not wide enough for cars let alone lorries  to pass each other safely.

“This has meant we have ended up with a carriage way unsuitable for the amount of traffic and the recent heavy rain has resulted in a landscape totally unable to cope with the 'run off' in this area.”

“The people who live locally should not have to accept the large  amount of traffic along  this busy and narrow road who have to take their rubbish to  a household recycling centre that is unable to cope with the growing size of Dorchester.”

Dorset Council recognises that the site is not ideal and a new household recycling centre needs to be created for Dorchester. In a statement the authority said: “Dorset Council’s Waste Local Plan recognises that the current household recycling centre (HRC) at Louds Mill is insufficient and that there is a need for a new HRC to serve Dorchester.  The plan has allocated the site at Louds Mill which meets that need, and also recognises that an alternative site could emerge elsewhere in Dorchester.

“The Dorset Waste Partnership is in the process of reviewing its waste infrastructure, including HRCs, and will examine options for the location of a new site in Dorchester.  However, funding for a new HRC site in Dorchester will need to be considered alongside the wider capital and infrastructure needs of Dorset Council.”

The site had been criticised by the inspector at the recent inquiry into the county’s waste and minerals plan as being inadequate for the needs of the area and poorly located with access only through a residential area.