You’d think Dorset Council had cracked the code of effortless, modern public services – until you look at their plans to make us all book an appointment just to throw away an old carpet. From this autumn, if we use the Dorchester, Wimborne, Shaftesbury or Sherborne recycling centres, we’ll have to pre-book a slot online or by phone before we turn up.
According to the council’s website, you’ll get up to 10,000 slots per site each month. You can book on the day if there’s space, or up to two weeks in advance. But if you’re anything like the rest of us, the tip trip isn’t a red-letter diary event – it’s what happens when the garage is about to burst, or you’ve been hacking back the garden all day, and decide you’ve got just enough time to get it all gone if you nip to the tip before it shuts.
And in an area where Dorset, Wiltshire and Somerset meet in a tangle of lanes, this policy borders on the absurd. I might live a few hundred feet over the border, but now I’ll have to drive miles further – or pay a charge – just to get rid of perfectly ordinary household waste. All in the name of stopping so-called “cross-border usage,” which, let’s be honest, nobody cared about until now. It sounds rather exciting though. A bit like those Australian customs TV shows: we’ll be turning up looking all innocent while we have a bit of Wiltshire loot stashed in a box at at the back.
Keep it simple, Stu…
If the problem is out-of-county residents, why not use a simpler system? Check a driving licence or a council tax bill at the gate. The staff are already there. Or better yet, look at how it’s done in the Netherlands or France: you get a resident card linked to your address. No booking, no charges for general household rubbish, no drama. The card is issued to the house, not the person. You could always charge out-of-county-ers for a card (and the right to use your tips). Imagine that – something that works without a clunky online portal and a new layer of bureaucracy.
It’s worth noting the general consensus ‘oop north’ is that Sherborne and Shaftesbury rarely have queues to begin with: has it actually been assessed? A quick changeover or skip swap, maybe, but hardly gridlock. And if Dorset Council really cares about fairness, why cherry-pick four sites for this experiment while the other six carry on as usual? Uniform policy? Apparently not.
Meanwhile, Shropshire tried this booking experiment – it ended in a spike of fly-tipping and was quietly scrapped earlier this year. Because when you make it harder to dispose of waste legally, some people just dump it in a gateway. And that costs councils – and ultimately us – even more.
And let’s not forget the company behind this shiny booking system is also the author of the glowing reports claiming it will save money. You’ll forgive me if I’m sceptical.
Simon Hoare MP called this policy a “wonky-wheeled supermarket trolley,” and for once I can’t disagree with him. If it ain’t broke, Dorset Council, don’t fix it. Or at the very least, don’t imagine a problem and then proudly announce your convoluted solution.
Sometimes the simplest answer really is the best one. And no, it doesn’t require an app.
