Four rubbish tips in Kent could close as part of drastic cost-saving plans unveiled by council bosses.

Under one option being considered, recycling centres in Dartford, Faversham, Maidstone (Tovil) and at Richborough near Sandwich would all shut permanently.

An alternative proposal is for just three of these sites to close – but this would mean 10 other tips also shutting for two days a week.

The Faversham and Richborough recycling centres are set to be axed under all the options being considered as Kent County Council (KCC) looks to make savings of £1.5 million.

The authority says there has been a dramatic reduction in the amount of waste being taken to its tips over the past five years.

That period has coincided with the Covid pandemic and the introduction of a booking system in 2020 – meaning people can no longer just turn up and dump their rubbish. This system was kept in place following a public consultation.

If all four sites are shut, it would mean almost 12,000 people no longer being within a 20-minute drive of a recycling centre, which goes against the advice of climate experts.

The controversial plans are revealed in a report prepared for KCC’s environment and transport committee ahead of a meeting on Tuesday.

A 12-week consultation on the measures is set to begin in July.

KCC says £1.1m needs to be saved during the current financial year – so a final proposal will be decided on by the committee “as soon as practicable”.

The council says the use of its recycling centres has “reduced significantly” over the past five years.

In 2017/18, more than 175,000 tonnes of material were managed through the sites, which reduced to 94,250 tonnes in 2022/23.

The report says over the same period, the amount of fly-tipped waste collected by district and borough councils has reduced from 3,794 tonnes to 2,175 tonnes.

While there are 77,000 slots available to be booked every week, little more than 32,000 are actually taken.

KCC has ruled out closing its sites at Allington, Ashford, Pepperhill, Sevenoaks, Sittingbourne, Tunbridge Wells for any days of the week as they are “co-located” with waste transfer stations – where rubbish collected from household bins is taken.

The report says: “Savings from closing sites for part of the week come from a reduction in management fees and staffing costs.

“For sites that are co-located with waste transfer stations, the majority of these savings would not be realised as staff work across both operations. These sites were therefore not considered for part week closures."

This means the following tips – not co-located with waste transfer sites – could potentially close for two days a week: Canterbury, Dartford, Deal, Dover, Folkestone, Herne Bay, Maidstone (Tovil), Margate, New Romney, Sheerness and Swanley.

In this scenario, one of Dartford or Maidstone (Tovil) would close permanently. Dartford is visited 1,392 times a week on average, while Maidstone (Tovil) is visited 2,492 times a week, making it one of the county’s busiest tips.

“The sites at Faversham and Richborough would need to close under all options...”

The report says: “It would be possible to combine part-week and full-week closures and still meet the £1.5m savings requirement.

“However, three sites would still need to be closed under any option and, owing to the differences in operating costs, the sites at Faversham and Richborough would need to close under all options.”

Faversham is visited 881 times a week on average while Richborough is visited 1,214 times a week.

KCC says closing sites will cut costs through factors such as no longer paying business rates, utility expenditure and contractor charges.

The report says: “Sites that are proposed for closure were determined by consideration of geography and where there is capacity at an alternative site(s). Modelling and analysis were focused on keeping drive times to a minimum.”

KCC’s cabinet member for environment, Susan Carey, told KentOnline the budget agreed for 2023/24 by councillors in February identified the need to save £55 million this year “from spending reductions and increased income to balance the budget”.

She added: “These savings are necessary to balance the books as the cost of services KCC provides has risen by more than £200 million.

“As part of these savings we are having to make some very challenging decisions about where we can offer our services in the most cost-effective and efficient way possible.

“No decisions will be made until all options and feedback from the consultation have been considered.”

The Kent Labour group says it will fight the plans and do all it can to keep waste and recycling centres open.

Labour Kent County Councillor for Dartford North East Kelly Grehan said: “This plan is ludicrous.

“It exposes the rhetoric from Local Conservatives about fighting climate change and improving the environment as just empty words.

“The council says the use of its recycling centres has ;reduced significantly; over the past five years - but for two of those years there was a pandemic which was followed by them bringing in an unnecessary booking system which Labour opposed.

“Labour warned the Conservatives that the booking system would lead to a reduction in use - they are now using that system to justify these cuts.”

If all four sites were to shut, this would result in a total reduction of 13,920 slots available per week.

If three were to shut, with 10 others closed two days a week, this would result in a reduction of just over 20,000 slots per week.

KCC says that over the past decade, an annual revenue saving of £5 million has been made through numerous measures, including introducing a fee for certain materials and - from April this year - charging non-Kent residents £10 to use the sites.

The council’s 19 recycling centres receive 1.7 million visits per year, dealing with 96,000 tonnes of waste.