THE Household Waste Recycling Centre at Llangadog is to remain open following a vigourous campaign by residents and councillors.

The centre's future seemed bleak when Carmarthenshire County Council revealed they were planning to end their contract.

Protestors argued that the facility was widely used by people in the north of the county and its closure would increase the problems of fly-tipping.

Now the local authority's waste and recycling section have met with All Waste Services Ltd, who run the site on their behalf, and have agreed that it shall remain open for the next 12 months.

AWS boss Hefin Roberts had claimed that the loss of the council contract could cause his recycling business to close.

Llandovery town councillor Gina Jones described the centre as "a very important facility" which was used by a lot of people in the area.

Now the county council have disclosed that the centre has been given at least a temporary reprieve.

"The contract for the recycling centre at Llangadog was due to come to an end on March 31 and as a result the authority took the opportunity to look at the provision of household waste recycling centres in Carmarthenshire as part of a review of its overall waste strategy," said a spokeswoman.

Director of Technical Services Richard Workman said: “We are delighted that following discussions with AWS we have been able to reach a decision to keep the household waste recycling centre at Llangadog open.

“I hope householders will continue to use the recycling centre and help us to reach future recycling targets set by Welsh Government.”

Last year, the county achieved a 54 per cent recycling rate, exceeding Wales’s first statutory recycling target of 52 per cent. The next target is 58 per cent by 2015/16.

Mr Workman added: “We must now look again at the waste strategy to make sure we have an affordable, effective and sustainable way forward.”