Readers weigh in on Hop Oast rubbish tip booking system trial

The system was launched by West Sussex County Council in March after a huge increase in demand led to congestion on several major roads, with queues causing problems for residents and businesses.

The system, which has been trialled at Bognor Regis, Crawley, Horsham, Littlehampton, Shoreham and Worthing, is due to be reviewed on September 30 by the council’s communities highways and environment scrutiny committee.

So far, 325,000 bookings have been made for slots up to October 6, though 13,000 of those appointments were later cancelled.

Of the six sites involved in the trial, Horsham had the fourth most bookings, with 46,442 made so far.

Ahead of the review we asked readers if they would like to see the booking system kept, scrapped or expanded to the rest of the county’s tips.

While views on the issue were split, a number of users on the County Times’ Facebook page had used the booking system and felt it had improved the situation at Hop Oast.

One reader said: “I have to admit I wasn’t sure at first but I go regularly and have found the system a lot easier than the old way.

“I can see how it would take some planning if you were doing a major DIY project but I still think this system works well? I do think the opening hours being extended would help though!”

Another wrote: “Personally, although I admit I was sceptical about the booking system, each time I’ve used it subsequently I’ve been very impressed. So from my experiences, I say it should stay.”

And another said: “We’ve sailed through when we’ve gone so we say keep it. Much nicer experience.”

But these positive experiences were not unanimous with a number of people in favour of scrapping the system.

One such reader said: “Scrap it. I’m fed up with having to book every single thing you ever want to do.”

Several spoke about how they had decided to use the tip at Billingshurst instead of Horsham’s where a booking system is not in place.

Calls were also made to increase the hours the tip is open, the removal of the limit on the number of visits, the option to book some same-day slots and the need to increase the size of the facility.

It was also suggested that with furlough coming to an end more people may want to use the tip at evenings and weekends.

One reader said: “It’s a pain and a blessing but the tip needs to be bigger and better, road should be easier access to enter and leave, if your just dropping off electrical item, you have to queue the bottle neck to leave the tip. Perhaps West Sussex County Council should view the size of the tip at Waterlooville? I’m for staying with the booking but would like to attend to more than once in a day.”

Another added: “I think it should remain in place but there should be some element of flexibility so that you have the option to book in as an immediate ‘walk in’ so if you end up with some rubbish you need to get rid of you don’t need to store it till you can get a slot. A certain percentage of each booking slot like this should be available each day.”