Major shake up as council announces booking-only system coming to all six West Northants tips
A major shake up is coming as the council has announced that a new booking-only system is being introduced across all six of West Northamptonshire’s tips.
West Northamptonshire Council is bringing in bookable slots to help reduce queues, ease pressure on surrounding roads, and ensure a smoother experience for residents – and this means vehicles will no longer be able to visit without booking a slot ahead of time.
The new booking system will commence for the following sites on November 3: Sixfields, Ecton Lane, Daventry, Towcester and Brixworth Household Recycling Centres, and Farthinghoe Recycling and Reuse Centre.
Residents can begin booking slots from October 20 for all sites, which were upped to seven-day-a-week opening hours following the start of a new contract with FCC Environment in April this year.
WNC assures residents that this change will “prevent long queues, especially during busy periods like bank holidays” – as well as “reduce disruption to nearby homes, businesses and highways” and “ensure fair access to West Northamptonshire residents”.
Only those who live in West Northamptonshire will be able to access the tips, and bookings can be made 24/7 via the WNC website.
For those unable to access the website, bookings can be made by calling WNC on 0300 126 7000 between 9am and 5pm from Monday to Friday.
Bookings can be made up to two weeks in advance of the slot, or on the day at least 30 minutes before arrival.
Slots will be 15 minutes each, with 30 minutes available for vans and trailers. If you were to book a 10am slot, you can arrive between 10am and 10.15am. The final slot is at 3.45pm each day.
ANPR technology is used to enter each of the tips, and you will be asked to provide your name, email address, postal address, vehicle registration, type and colour when making a booking.
All visitors must book a slot in advance and anyone who arrives without one will be asked to make a booking on site if there is one available, or return at an allotted time when a booking has been made.
There are no restrictions on how many visits you can book to dispose of household waste in a domestic car. More information on commercial vehicles that require a waste e-permit can be found on the WNC website.
WNC says the booking system will enable them to monitor site use and add extra slots at the busiest times. They have “analysed how many slots are required per day at each site” and say they “have allowed for enough slots to fulfil typical use”.
They added that “there may still be times when all slots are booked but overall, there will be plenty of slots available”.
Trade customers and those who live outside the area will have the option to pay to use the service, but this cannot be done through the booking system. More information can be found on the WNC website.
Members of the public do not need to book a slot to visit or donate to the re-use shops at Sixfields and Farthinghoe.
‘We know that the introduction of this new system may take some residents time to get used to’
Councillor Nigel Stansfield, WNC’s cabinet member for environment, recycling and waste, said: “We know that the introduction of this new system may take some residents time to get used to, but it is designed to make visits to our recycling centres a more pleasant and efficient experience.
“We’ve listened to feedback from people about the access to sites and queues and by managing demand and making sure that those using the facilities live in West Northamptonshire, we can reduce traffic, improve safety, and ensure our sites are used fairly and responsibly.
“We want to encourage as many people as possible to recycle their waste and dispose of it properly, and with many other local authorities across the country already using or introducing booking systems, we’re confident that this will benefit residents accessing these services.”
This marks the second big change to the tips in 2025
From April 1, 2025, WNC entered a new contract with FCC Waste Services – better known as FCC Environment – which now manages the six recycling centres across the unitary area. The contract is in place until 2040.
The contract saw the introduction of new opening hours across all sites, from 10am until 4pm seven days a week. Farthinghoe was the only tip that already operated seven days a week.
Prior to the new contract, five of the six West Northants tips were open five days a week. During the pandemic, the council made a temporary decision to increase this to six days a week due to increased demand. The five-day-a-week schedule was reintroduced in 2021 and was met with criticism.
The tips used to be run by Northamptonshire Country Council and Daventry, Ecton Lane and Sixfields all opened seven days a week until 2015.
Since the new contract came into effect in April, one key operational change at the Sixfields site is that vehicles are now required to reverse into bays to enhance safety measures. At the time, WNC also said temporary closures may occur at the site when queues impact nearby roads.
Following the busy Easter Bank Holiday weekend, visitors shared their experiences at Sixfields tip with the Chronicle & Echo – namely the lack of control over the flow of traffic, constant near-on collisions and overflowing skips.