Secret plan revealed to close down all three household waste tips in Milton Keynes

Newport Pagnell and New Bradwell tips will close in 2026, while Bleak Hall will remain open until 2028 at the latest.

They will be replaced by two new purpose-built refuse and recycling ‘supersites’, one in Old Wolverton to serve the north of the city and one in Snellshall to serve the south.

The plan is revealed in the agenda for the next Delegated Decisions meeting on Janaury 14, when the Cabinet member for finance, Councillor Lauren Townsend, is expected to make a sole decision to approve it.

The matter comes in Part 2 of the agenda, when press and public are excluded.

Documents state the two new sites would be “larger, greener and in better locations” with less congestion. They would accept a wider range of items as well as offering reuse facilities.

Snelshall, to be Southern Supersite, would open 2028, while the Northern Supersite in Old Wolverton, near the existing waste plant, would open as soon as next year.

The Snellshall site will cost £6m to build and the Old Wolverton site would set the council back £4m.

The agenda states: “Milton Keynes will build new fit for purpose facilities with capacity to accommodate growth for a generation.

"Our new sites will be even safer and more accessible than current facilities. Our current Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs) were converted from old utility locations or on land that was made available as the city was being built. None of them were designed or delivered as purposebuilt waste and recycling facilities.”

It adds: “HWRCs can cause a sense of challenge with local residents in terms of traffic and noise. We are proposing to build Recycling and Reuse Centres in locations away from residents which will have natural shielding from trees. They will also incorporate state of the art environmental provisions such as green roofs, solar canopies and we will work to ensure that at least one of these new facilities is fully ‘off grid’”

Newport Pagnell is a functioning site but has continued to be problematic. It is now in need of upgrading and repair.

The £10m outlay in building the two new supersites will lead to savings in the long run by improving recycling rates and reducing managment costs, say council officers.

The papers state: Our current HWRCs were converted from old utility locations or on land that was made available as the city was being built. None of them were designed or delivered as purpose-built waste and recycling facilities.

"They are small, cannot expand and are largely based in residential locations. The small size means that movements are congested between pedestrians, cars and waste vehicles.”

The sites will be able to “absorb the future growth of the city”, say officers. And they will have options for modular expansion and be powered by their own renewable energy provision.

They will even include a re-use shop a reuse shop for residents to visit and purchase items, plus a workshop for the repair of items that could be re-used.