USERS of the Household Waste Recycling Centre near Cheney Manor have branded the site 'a disgrace.'

The Waterside site is currently undergoing a revamp with almost £4million being spent on it but while the work is taking place residents say they are not happy about the way waste has been allowed to pile up.

Swindon Borough Council maintains the waste is being separated as it comes in but one resident who contacted the Adver said a number of users were not satisfied with the way the site is being run.

They are angry that the skips used to separate different types of waste have been removed.

One man, who did not want to be named, said on Thursday: “I visited a few weeks ago to find the usual skips to segregate rubbish types mostly gone.

“I visited again yesterday and it was worse. General, garden and cardboard rubbish is all mixed together and piled so high they have had to put temporary fencing in place above the 'dumps'.

“This site is now a disgrace when we are on two weekly rubbish collections and have to comply with extremely picky recycling rules.”

The issue was also brought up during the public question time before the October cabinet meeting by a spokesman for the Haydon View Community Association.

Swindon Borough Council is in the process of carrying out a large scale refurbishment to the Waterside site with the aim of increasing access to the site.

The council said staff at the centre were sorting the waste and the skips will return once the latest round of work is completed.

“The recycling centre is currently undergoing major improvement works, which includes extending the site and road surface and drainage projects," said a spokesman.

“To allow this work to take place the recycling skips have been temporarily removed, but the waste at the site continues to be separated and sorted.

“The skips will be moved back into place once this work has been completed.”

The work being carried out on the recycling centre will see overall capacity increase from 40 to 100 vehicles at any one time.

Commercial and resident’s vehicles will also enter through different sites which will help ease long queues.

Just short of £4 million has been spent on the works, which have also included improving drainage to avoid flooding.

When the work was first announced, Councillor Brian Ford (Con, Wroughton and Wichelstowe), the cabinet member responsible for Streetsmart, said the work was important as Swindon was a fast growing town.

He said: “We provide a great service at the HWRC but Swindon’s continued expansion is placing more pressure on our resources, including at this site.

“The plans we have submitted will ensure we can accommodate more vehicles and significantly improve the way the site operates.”