A move by a Swanage councillor to allow the Liberal Democrat controlled Dorset Council administration to save face over its unpopular policy to introduce a booking system at its household recycling centres or tips, has been rejected.
At a meeting of the full council on Thursday 10th July 2025, councillor Gary Suttle who represents Swanage on Dorset Council, proposed a motion to scrap the proposed blanket tip appointment system across the whole of the Dorset Council area, and instead look at the situation centre by centre in consultation with ward members and the general public.
The modern Swanage tip is efficiently run and there’s rarely a queue
Failure of the council to effectively communicate
However in an extraordinary move, the idea to consult with residents on the matter was voted down, with only 24 councillors backing the motion and 44 voting against. There was one abstention.
The disastrous attempt to introduce the policy change by the Liberal Democrats at the beginning of June 2025 led to a swift U-turn by the beginning of July 2025, meaning that six of the household recycling centres (HRCs) in the Dorset Council area including Swanage and Wareham have now been excluded from the tip booking systems.
However the scheme where residents will have to book online a half hour slot before they can go to the tip, will still be introduced in autumn 2025 at four tips – Dorchester, Wimborne, Shaftesbury, and Sherborne and many of the residents in those areas remain unhappy.
Despite the admitted failure of the council to effectively communicate the reasons behind the introduction of the booking scheme, it now emerges that the real objective was to save money by making residents, living near the Dorset border in Hampshire, Somerset, Wiltshire and Poole, pay to use Dorset Council tips.
It emerged in the discussion that Dorset Council pays a total of more than £800,000 a year to Hampshire Council and Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council, to allow Dorset Council residents to use their tips but there appears to be no reciprocal arrangement.
Rather than address that specific issue, it now appears Dorset Council could only come up with the solution of introducing a tip booking system across the whole of the Dorset Council area, inconveniencing its own voters including those not affected by any problems.
Councillor Gary Suttle proposes a motion to consult with residents
“Support the swell of public opinion”
Proposing the motion to consult with residents, councillor Gary Suttle said:
“The reason I have brought this motion forward is to support the swell of public opinion in Swanage, Wareham and other areas against the booking system.”
He went on to call the idea “madness” as it would restrict the number of vehicles visiting the Swanage tip to 24 an hour, when currently there are up to 70 vehicles an hour, and no queues due to the modern design of the site.
The motion was then debated by councillors, with the Lib Dem leader of the council Nick Ireland first to speak, defending the policy by saying that it was necessary to save money but failed to articulate precisely how it would make any savings, especially considering the £120,000 cost of introducing the booking scheme and the £20,000 a year ongoing costs.
Councillors like Labour Paul Kimber who represents Portland said that the council clearly hadn’t taken the public with them and that he had never had so many emails over an issue on the island, which was quite something considering the Bibby Stockholm fiasco and the Portland incinerator objections.
Councillor Andrew Parry, leader of the Conservative group asked the council cabinet to give a voice back to the public. Councillor Laura Beddow who represents West Purbeck suggested that it would be good to speak to those who work at the tips, as she had found that many don’t think it’s a good idea.
Poor communications were blamed by several councillors
“Comms on this were appalling”
A number of councillors pointed out that the communication of the policy had been a PR disaster: “The comms were really poor”, “We all agree that the comms on this were appalling – it let all of us down”, “Comms didn’t do a good job.”
However strangely the cabinet member for place services councillor Jon Andrews, who is responsible for this policy, didn’t take this opportunity to correct that failure and explain effectively the reasoning behind introducing the scheme across the Dorset Council area.
His performance in the meeting was hesitant and unconvincing as he repeated that it was all about cost savings, claiming that a booking system would save £120,000 a year.
He went on to say that this was because about 20 percent of the waste at tips at Sherborne (his local tip) and Shaftesbury, came from residents living outside Dorset and the booking system would stop that.
He then went onto say that booking a slot at the tip would be easy as booking a doctor’s appointment online but then said it would be easier, as he remembered that booking doctor’s appointments was rarely easy for many.
There was still no explanation of how the booking system would save money anywhere else, and an absence of any credible business case to back up his policy.
Councillor Beryl Ezzard who represents Wareham said that a booking system would be introduced everywhere eventually
“Residents haven’t been consulted but it’s not one of the main things that this council needs to consider”
In a surprising move, Lib Dem councillor Beryl Ezzard who represents Wareham, dismissed her residents’ concerns about a booking system. She said:
“I am against this motion – I know the residents haven’t been consulted but it’s not one of the main things that this council needs to consider.
“It’s actually one of the lesser things, and not only that, but in Purbeck we are very lucky to have two HRCs, and as I was on the review panel, both those in Purbeck have got less footfall and we could have taken up the option of closing one on them, and possibly it would have been Wareham.”
Having already alienated many of her ward voters by opposing the building of a budget supermarket at Sandford, Beryl Ezzard then further risked her political position by adding that while the system would now only be introduced at four tips, she made it clear that this was just a pilot and added, “I can assure you, it (the booking system) will come.”
She appeared blind to the fact that it relied on her and the Lib Dems being re-elected by the people she didn’t want to listen to.
The new booking system will still be introduced at Dorchester tip which is old and poorly designed, causing queues at busy times
“You have handled this really, really badly”
However there was one councillor who clearly understood her residents. Conservative councillor Sherry Jespersen said:
“The way in which this whole matter has been handled has led to a massive reduction in public trust in this council and this administration.
“We’ve heard a reference just now to this being ‘not a huge issue’. I can’t remember recently a more huge issue in terms of the information we are getting in our inboxes about this.
“We’ve had a cabinet member speaking in sneering terms – I have to use that word – about public opinion. Your public opinion is my residents’ views. You have handled this really, really badly.
“I would call on you to have the courage of your convictions. If you really believe this is a good policy, then explain to the residents the business case for how this is going to save money and how this is going to make our household recycling centres more efficient.”
She added in a plea to the Lib Dem administration:
“If your case is sound you will convince the public – they are quite capable of understanding complex issues.
“There is still time to step back from this brink, consult the public, put this right and listen to our residents and take them with us on this journey. If your case is sound you will convince them and they will support you.”
The Swanage tip is well organised to encourage recycling
“The outrage is outrageous”
However there were a surprising number of Lib Dem councillors who made tone deaf comments like they thought this was a “petty matter”, “I think the outrage is outrageous”, and “Relatively minor in the scheme of things.”
Lib Dem councillor and cabinet member for customer, culture and community engagement Ryan Hope said:
“We as a cabinet have listened to the outcries in certain areas. We’ve listened to the people that have made the noise and we’ve assessed the HRC bookings in those areas. We don’t need to go out to consult now.”
Later in the meeting he was asked about whether he supported the principle of public consultation. To jeers of laughter he said:
“Public consultation is not just a formality for Dorset Council, it is a key part in how we work. We do not treat this as a tick box exercise. We believe listening to people is essential for making good decisions.”
Dorset Council was urged to skip its booking scheme
“Dump this rubbish!”
Seconding the motion was Conservative councillor Louie O’Leary who represents Littlemoor and Preston to the west of the county. Concluding the debate he said:
“We need to right the wrongs of this shambolic last month and vote to scrap this unwanted, unneeded, waste of time system and dump this rubbish!”
But the motion to hold a public consultation was voted down.
Tributes paid to councillor Bill Trite who would have had plenty to say on this subject
Councillor Bill Trite
At the start of the meeting, tributes were paid to Swanage councillor Bill Trite, who sadly died in May 2025. He was remembered as a gentleman who was always polite, even if he disagreed with you.
It is beyond doubt that he would have been incandescent about the lack of respect for residents’ views on this subject and the hypocrisy of some councillors in the chamber.
Watch the Dorset Council debate
Debate on a consultation of the tip booking system starts at 41 minutes
Further information
- More about the Dorset Council booking system
