OPENING hours are to be cut at Torfaen’s recycling centre over the winter.

Torfaen County Borough Council is planning to bring in the changes at its Household Waste Recycling Centre (HWRC) in New Inn following the ‘firebreak’ lockdown, which ends on November 9.

The changes are expected to save the council around £20,000 per year.

Currently the site in Panteg Way opens from 7.30am to 5.45pm, Monday to Saturday, and 9am to 5.45pm on Sunday, all year round.

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But after the lockdown, it is proposed that it will open from 10am to 4pm, Monday to Sunday during the winter.

These hours would be in place until British Summer Time begins again in spring.

Summer opening hours will also be reduced by 30 minutes from Monday to Saturday, with the site opening at 8am.

A council report says the authority reviewed the number of visits during the affected hours in February to consider the impact of the changes.

It found that only 11 per cent of visitors to the recycling centre came between 7.30am and 10am.

“In seeking to achieve the budget mitigation, we considered various scenarios including amendments to opening times and the possibility to close the site for one day per week,” the council report says.

“Following consideration of the potential options it is suggested that the introduction of different opening times for summer and the winter would be the preferable option as this would ensure that the facility remained available every day, providing flexibility to residents.”

A booking system to visit the recycling centre has been introduced due to coronavirus and a report says there will be 2,205 car slots available each week for visitors during the winter.

This is more than the 1,890 visitors who booked a visit each week between September 24 and October 21, a council report says.

“It is anticipated that if demand for visits follows previous years we would expect fewer visits to the HWRC from November until March,” it adds.

“This means that sufficient capacity is available for residents to book a visit to the site each week.”

Cllr Mandy Owen, executive member for environment, is expected to approve the proposed changes on Wednesday, November 4.