A FORMER councillor has called for longer opening hours at Ross recycling centre which is open 43 hours less a week than Leominster's.

Ross-on-Wye Household Recycling Centre in Station Approach is open Thursday and Saturday from 8am to 6pm and Sunday 10am to 5pm.

While Leominster's recycling centre is open Monday to Sunday from 8am to 6pm.

Speaking at Ross town council's meeting on Monday night, Joyce Thomas said when she was a county councillor in the 80s she was particularly proud of pushing for a new waste disposal facility in Ross.

The facility opened for Saturdays and Sundays but Mrs Thomas said she made it clear then that she thought the hours should be increased.

She said: "It never happened despite the increase in housing developments and residents."

Mrs Thomas said Ross has 10,800 residents and in Leominster there are 11,700 residents. Yet she said in Ross the facility is open three days a week while Leominster is open seven days a week. She said the cost should be shared adding "Ross is being treated as a poor relation".

The recycling centres are run by the county council, Herefordshire Council, but Mrs Thomas asked what the town council's view was.

Town and county councillor Jenny Hyde said she has tried to bring this issue up a number of times but is told that if it was open midweek there would be a lot of time wasted by the operators as it is not considered to attract enough people to make it viable.

Town councillor Julian Utting suggested that the county council moves a day from Leominster to Ross so the cost would remain the same.

Chairman of the town council and county councillor Harry Bramer said: "We have asked for this to be reviewed by officers at the county council. There are two items to be looked at. How to find the money? One of the suggestions is to take one of the Leominster days and add it to Ross but strangely that is not really the biggest problem. The planning for Ross recycling centre is only to be opened for a limited amount of time."

They would need to apply for new planning permission to be able to open the site for longer.