A MINEHEAD hotelier has blamed a "disgusting" case of fly-tipping on a decision to close Minehead's Household Waste Recycling Centre immediately after a bank holiday weekend.

A television, washing machine, tumble drier, boxes and a desk were among the items dumped alongside the locked gates.

Bryan Leaker said it was "stupid" to stick to the centre's revised opening hours following a long weekend when people were likely to have been busy both at home and in their gardens.

But a spokesman for the Somerset Waste Partnership, which operates waste collection and recycling for Somerset's six local authorities, said the centre had been open for the entire bank holiday weekend.

He said fly-tipping at the Minehead centre was a "fairly minor and short-term problem" and warned that all centres were equipped with CCTV and technology to identify vehicle registration details.

Since the beginning of April, all the county's recycling centres have been closed for two days each week after Somerset County Council withdrew £1.9 million in funding to save money.

Charges have also been introduced for certain waste items, while all visitors to Dulverton's facility have to pay £2 per trip.

Mr Leaker, who runs The Parks Guest House, said he was not surprised to see a pile of rubbish dumped at the gates when the Minehead centre was closed on the Tuesday and Wednesday after Monday's bank holiday.

He said the new charges and reduced opening hours were also likely to lead to an increase in fly-tipping.

"It is disgusting in this day and age to see rubbish piled up outside a recycling centre because its closed when most people would expect to see it open," said Mr Leaker.

"We've just had a bank holiday, people will have been out doing their gardening or spring cleaning their homes and they have every right to expect their local recycling centre to be open to take their rubbish.

"It looks an absolute tip down there and it's disgusting that people have simply dumped stuff at the gates."

All Somerset's recycling centres have had their opening hours cut from 56 in winter and 70 in summer to 40 hours year-round, with a staggered rota so not all locations are closed on the same day.

In West Somerset, all three sites are open from 8am to 7pm on Mondays, Minehead is closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, while Dulverton and Williton are open from 8am to 4pm on both days and closed on Thursdays and Fridays when Minehead is open, again from 8am to 4pm.

All three sites are open from 8am to 4pm on Saturdays and from 8am to 1pm on Sundays.

Charges of between £14.50 and £116 are also now levied for different loads of soil or rubble, leaving gas bottles costs between £6 and £35, car tyres from £3.30 to £4.20 and £45.60 for "general commercial" tyres.

Steve Read, Somerset Waste Partnership's managing director, said the organisation was doing its best to let people know about the new opening times, including advertising in the Free Press.

"We expected that it would take a little time for changed arrangements to settle down," he said.

"There will always be a few who miss out or forget but fly-tipping at the site has not been in great volumes.

"We think for the most part it is due to people who genuinely did not know about the changed arrangements, but they should be aware for the future and note that nearby Williton Recycling Centre is open on both the days Minehead is closed."

He said the revised timetables had tried to match the needs of residents as well as the partnership's own staff, who now worked every weekend.

Mr Read added: "While we appreciate that residents are not always happy about what we have had to introduce at recycling sites and we apologise to anyone inconvenienced by the changes, many people continue to make full use of all our services.

"The timetable tries to meet the needs of visitors and be suitable for recycling staff, who have accepted many changes to their employment, including now working every weekend.

"The teams do a fantastic job and have to bear the brunt of complaints even though this situation is due to the economic situation and is not of their making.

"Slightly shorter Sunday opening ensures they get to see their families like everyone else."

A partnership spokesman said Minehead's recycling centre staff quickly cleared the mess from the gates when they arrived for work yesterday (Thursday), although the washing machine and tumble drier had been "stolen" overnight.

"So far, the only evidence we have to link fly-tipping to the changes is the occasional placing of materials directly outside recycling sites.

"We are working with colleagues in the district councils to monitor the impact of the changes on fly-tipping and kerbside collections.

"It is early days, and we expect things to settle down once people are more used to the changes," the spokesman said.

Information about revised opening hours and new charges is available on the website somersetwaste.gov.uk or by telephoning Somerset Direct on 0845 3459188.