York: Hazel Court in James Street has lengthy traffic queues

James Street in York is at a standstill with lengthy queues back on to Lawrence Street.

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Andrew Mortimer who was trying to get  to the tip at Hazel Court said he ended up thinking better of it an heading home in the end.

"The traffic is all due to queues trying to get into Hazel Court recycling centre," he said.

"I was trying to go myself which is why I was in the area. I abandoned my trip but was so angry at what was happening that I parked up and took some photos. 

"There are people driving on the footpaths to try and get down side streets. It's really dangerous."

"I am a member of the Lib Dem team in Hull Road and know that the council have closed the waste recycling centre on a Wednesday but as that as a month ago I would have expected things to have settled down by now.

"Clearly this isn’t the case and the council has got this wrong.

"With Hazel Court being the main recycling site for the whole of York clearly it does need to be open seven days a week."

Robert MacMahon who is renovating a house in York city centre and needs to travel in the area regulary said there are chaotic scenes today.

"There are sizeable businesses down there who will be really badly affected by this."

Dominic Shortle (Image: Harry Booth)

As The Press reported last week, trader Dominic Shortle, the owner of Fully Furnished in James Street, hit out at the "horrific traffic" in James Street after the recycling centre hour changes.

And he claimed his business was 90 per cent down in trade as a result of the shake-up.

At the start of this month City of York Council introduced earlier closing times at Hazel Court household waste recycling centre (HWRC), which is just off James Street, and an all-day closure every Wednesday.

The council said the changes were a bid to reduce running costs and it expected traffic problems to subside as people got used to the new opening hours.

City of York Council's James Gilchrist, the director of environment, transport and panning, said: "We closely monitor visitor numbers to the HWRC along with the operators YorWaste.  

"The decision to close on a Wednesday was widely publicised. We have had notices on site for four weeks, promoted changes via social media and the website, and written to all those regular users who we had details for.

"We are aware that visits to HWRC vary for a number of reasons and warm weather is also a factor in the number of visits. 

"We are aware of a spike of visitors on the Thursday following the first Wednesday closure. Those numbers noticeably reduced for the second week of Wednesday closures and we would expect that to further settle down as people get used to the new arrangements."