HOURS will be reduced at Southampton’s recycling centre, while the facility will also close its doors one day a week.

City council chiefs have agreed to close the City Depot on Thursdays, but say they are “disappointed” they have to do so to prevent residents from elsewhere in Hampshire dumping their rubbish there.

It comes after the county council decided to cut hours at 24 tips, which will also close on Thursdays, earlier this year.

There had been an outcry among residents across Hampshire after the county council consulted on plans to close 12 of its facilities, before eventually deciding to reduce hours at them instead.

The city and county councils are partners in a Hampshire-wide agreement for waste management.

The city council says its plans, which will see the centre open two hours later at 11am in the winter, and at 10am from Monday to Friday in the summer, will save £51,000 a year.

Speaking to the Daily Echo, city council leader Simon Letts said: “We’re disappointed that the county council, which runs most of these facilities, has opted to close their centres on Thursdays and that we are having to fall into line with them.

“Effectively we would be paying for county council residents to get rid of their rubbish in our facilities.

“That’s the way it goes in the system we have agreed.”

The new hours will come into effect from January 1.