A LLANARTH household waste site has been given a reprieve and will remain open for three days.

The decision was made by council Cabinet members despite calls from backbench councillors for it to open for more days by cutting opening days at other sites.

The Rhydeinon site had been earmarked for closure by Ceredigion County Council when the council’s contract with the operators ends this year.

But after a consultation found that over 90 per cent of people would continue to use the site even if opening hours were reduced, council officers backtracked and recommended that the site could remain open on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday.

A number of backbench councillors insisted the decision was “not fair” and that cuts should be made at other sites in Aberystwyth, Lampeter and Cardigan to allow greater opening hours at Rhydeinon.

The council had said that the Rhydeinon site is the least used site in terms of amount of waste accepted and is the least cost effective, but accepted that closing the site may not provide the best option.

The three-day opening will start on 1 December.

Cllr Dafydd Edwards, the Cabinet member responsible for waste, said: “I think it’s possible to run the site on three days a week.

“It does make sense to reduce the opening to three days.

“We have to look at how much money we can save. Every penny counts.”

But Cllr Gwyn James said a scrutiny committee had suggested that the site should remain open all week with a new two-year contract to match up with contracts for other sites, before there is a decision taken on the opening hours of all sites in 2020.

See this week’s south papers for the full story, available in shops and as a digital edition on Wednesday