A community skips scheme could be axed in a

A town’s community skips scheme could be binned as the new council looks at a range of cost-cutting measures.

But the politician who brought in the project three years ago has lambasted the plan as a politically-motivated idea that will just see the people of Gosport lose out.

Gosport Borough Council is looking at the community skips scheme, which allows residents to dump rubbish at skips rotating around the borough on alternate Saturdays. Aimed at reducing fly-tipping, and making waste disposal easier, it is operated by TJ Waste, and costs the council £160,470.80 a year which is due to increase in phases to £189,335.26 a year in 2028 - although the last two years are optional extensions at this point.

Unlike the county council-run tip at Grange Road walk-ins are allowed and there is no need to book.

Peter Chegwyn is the former Lib Dem leader of Gosport Council, and introduced the scheme in May 2023. He is furious that the new Reform-Conservative alliance now running the council is looking at axing the skips to save money - the report outlines that £1.5m needs to be chopped off the budget this year.

“It would be a great shame,” he said. “The skips have been hugely popular - they are used by thousands of local residents, many of whom can’t get to the tip, as they don’t have cars. It would be a sad day - the new council seems to be cutting things that the old council did out of sheer spite. It gave people something back for their council tax.

placeholder image — Gosport community skips last year

“And if they go there will be a lot of fly-tipping - which is down 40 per cent since the skips were brought in.”

The council report outlines three options for the skips - continuing the service, re-negotiating the contract, or scrapping it. The report says that the contract contains a termination clause that allows the council to end the contract with two months’ notice without any financial penalty.

The skips go to Bridgemary School, Gosport Leisure Centre, Walpole Park South, Green Lane car park and Alver Valley West. Previously they have visited Privett Park and Whites Place but have been discontinued there after complaints, although Cllr Chegwyn disputes the seriousness of the complaints saying there were just one at each venue.

The report says that in the last 18 months, from December 2024, there have been 154 vans, 2,947 cars and 2,200 pedestrians. A rough analysis of these figures suggests 150 people use the skips each session, which as the sessions run for two hours, means about 75 people an hour - more than one every minute.

The report does point out that: “Under the current arrangements, users of the community skips service are not required to provide proof of residency within Gosport. Consequently, the council does not hold data relating to repeat usage, residency status or user demographics.”

It also says that according to the council’s fly-tipping statistics there is “no evident correlation between fly-tipping incidents and the community skips service”. Council papers say there were 512 incidents in 2025, compared to 484 in 2022.

The next scheduled community skip session is on Saturday at the Walpole Park car park from 9.30am to 11.30am. No further sessions are listed on the council’s website.

The skips will be discussed at an extraordinary meeting of Gosport Borough Council’s Community and Environment Board on Wednesday, July 15 at 6.30pm.