North Somerset Council has approved proposals to develop a new £56 million waste depot and household waste recycling centre.
Councillors have approved funding to progress the next stage of the project, which includes detailed design work and planning preparation.
According to multiple reports, the project is set to cost around £56 million to complete.
North Somerset Council says the new facility will align its waste operations across the entire region and provide a replacement recycling centre for Weston and the surrounding area.
Councillor Annemieke Waite, the council’s Cabinet Member for Climate, Waste and Sustainability, said the project protects a ‘vital public service for the future’.
“Waste and recycling services are among the most important services we provide for residents every day, and we need infrastructure that is fit for the future,” Waite said.
“Our existing arrangements are not sustainable in the long term. We need a modern facility that enables us to continue delivering reliable services, improve operational efficiency and meet future environmental and legislative requirements.”
North Somerset Council says its current waste infrastructure is facing ‘significant challenges’, including an existing waste depot that is too small to cope with household growth.
The next phase of work will include developing detailed designs, progressing planning requirements and refining business cases before any future decision is taken on the full construction programme.
Commenting on the project, Councillor Steve Bridger said the council recognise that the ‘scale of investment required is significant’.
Bridger said that the council has undertaken benchmarking with other councils that have delivered similar projects and included a ‘substantial contingency’ within the indicative budget.
“The reality is that construction costs for major infrastructure projects have increased considerably in recent years, and we want residents to be confident that our plans are based on robust evidence and realistic assessments of what these facilities now cost to deliver,” he commented.
