MIDDLEZOY’S recycling centre has been saved – after plans were approved on Friday to charge visitors £2 each time they use it.

The Mercury previously reported how Somerset County Council planned to close Middlezoy and three other centres across the county to save money.

But the Somerset Waste Partnership changed the status of the four at-risk centres to ‘community recycling sites’ so visitors could be charged.

However, Somerset Waste Partnership managing director Steve Read warned: “Saving them from closure is a great first step but local people do need to continue using them to ensure they stay open.”

At the partnership’s board meeting on Friday, it was also confirmed that opening hours would be reduced at all the 18 recycling centres in the county.

From next Monday, opening hours will be cut from 56 hours in winter and 70 in summer to 40 all year round.

Each recycling centre will also close for two days a week, with the closures staggered so people will always have a centre open reasonably close by.

Middlezoy will close on Thursdays and Friday, while the centres in Bridgwater and Highbridge will close on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

People will also be charged for recycling certain materials, including gas bottles, tyres, and soil and rubble.

Details of the entry fee, new hours and charges will available from each recycling centre and community recycling site, on the Somerset Waste Partnership website at somersetwaste.gov.uk or by calling Somerset Direct on 0845 345 9188.