A public tip on the edge Romsey which had been threatened with closure has been saved from the axe.

After months of waiting to see what will happen to Casbrook Common recycling centre, community leaders are celebrating after it was announced it would remain open.

Almost 12,000 people took part in a two-month public consultation by Hampshire County Council on the controversial plans in a bid to persuade them to keep it open.

Civic chiefs in Romsey feared the Timsbury site was in “jeopardy of closure”.

It was one of 24 household waste and recycling centres (HWRC) across Hampshire which could have been closed as part of a county-wide consultation to save £1.5 million.

Now, it is expected that the site will remain open “through a combination of contract renegotiations, reductions in opening hours and introducing specific charges”.

Further details will be unveiled on Friday July 22.

Earlier in the year former Romsey Mayor Dorothy Baverstock wrote a letter to recycling bosses begging Hampshire County Council not to close the Bunny Lane site.

She feared that if it were to close there would be more incidents of fly-tipping.

Cllr Baverstock described the news as “absolutely brilliant”.

“This it the second time it’s been up [for closure] I really thought they were going to close it this time,” she said.

“I was pleading with them saying it would lead to more fly-tipping. I’m absolutely over the moon that it’s been saved because we were going to be in the middle of a desert if they closed it.”

The nearest other site is at Eastleigh, 20 miles away.

Basingstoke Gazette:

Hampshire County Council’s executive member for environment and transport, Councillor Rob Humby, said: “We asked Hampshire residents what changes they would be willing to see to establish a financially sustainable way to run the HWRCs, and it was clear that their main priority was to retain their local site.”

He added that: “No stone has been left unturned in finding ways to make ends meet to keep every one of Hampshire’s HWRCs open.”

Casbrook Common will remain open until 6pm in the summer and at 4pm in the winter but will open later at 11am.

The site will be closed on Thursdays and there will be a “small charge” for people outside Hampshire using the service.

Casbrook Common will now be able to accept waste from small businesses who will be charged, and residents can also take their DIY “construction-type waste” to the dump.