A county hall Conservative has sparked fury by suggesting the closure of even more than the four tips already under threat from swingeing cuts.

Romney Marsh member Cllr Tony Hills, deputy cabinet member for environment at Kent County Council (KCC), said the county’s household waste recycling centres (HWRCs) are 40% over capacity as currently used.

And in order to achieve £1.4m in cuts for cash-strapped Kent County Council, which is in dire financial straits in the face of falling funding and increased costs, he said other sites could be sacrificed.

KCC auditors, Grant Thornton, have said that the authority must find £86m in efficiencies next year to balance the books.

Plans to shut four of six Kent tips caused a furious backlash and prompted a planned consultation, due to start in the summer, to be put on hold.

The HWRCs at risk were Faversham, Tovil (Maidstone), Deal, Richborough, Dartford and Swanley.

Cllr Hills, elected in 2021 with 62% of the vote, said: “If I had my way, I would lose more. I realise that some members have got axes to grind because they might lose votes.”

The consultation process was further delayed last week while other options are being considered but the Tories say closures remain on the table.

Cllr Antony Hook said: "Does he not realise the effect these closures will have on people? It's appalling because the closures would do real harm and now the deputy cabinet member is suggesting more.

"It seems they have gone from wanting to close the sites reluctantly to looking for more enthusiastically. Rationality has completely left town on this issue.

"They have never been able to give answers on the impact closures would have meant. We need to keys of KCC off these people as soon as possible before they do any more damage."

Backbench Conservative councillors rebelled against the tip closures 28 votes to 21 at a recent group meeting, sparking the resignation of the cabinet member Cllr Susan Carey.

Cllr Hills said: “Susan resigned because of the vote. She had gone the extra mile on this and we thought we had got somewhere, so she was gutted to lose the vote.”

Cllr Hills is now supporting KCC Leader Roger Gough, who took over the environment brief after Cllr Carey's shock resignation.

Cllr Gough said: “We are confirming a delay in the launch of our public consultation on how we plan to manage our HWRCs in the future.

“The financial pressures on the county council remain severe and we have therefore got to continue to look at making savings from every area of our work.

“However, it has become clear that further conversations are needed and this will require a delay to the consultation timeline.

“All options are still on the table. No timeline for the public consultation launching has yet been confirmed.”