£5m Torridge council services centre opens in Bideford with solar-powered depot

A new £5 million operational services centre for Torridge District Council has opened in East-the-Water, Bideford, promising greater efficiency and improved facilities for 70 staff.

The site, which replaces four outdated depots across the district, is operating a year after spades first went in the ground at Alverdiscott Road and has been described as the best of its kind in Devon.

Known locally as OSCAR (Operational Services Centre, Alverdiscott Road), the new building will be cost neutral and powered by the sun through solar panels, has huge tanks to collect rainwater, which will be recycled for cleaning the council’s fleet of 27 waste and recycling vehicles, and an attenuation pond next door to reduce flooding and act as a wildlife resource for local schools.

No grants or external funding have paid for OSCAR; the money has come from the council’s own reserves, and it’s been in the planning for ten years.

The depot replaces the dilapidated facility at Westcombe in Bideford, another at Piper’s Yard in Holsworthy, one in Torrington, and a temporary depot at Middledock, Appledore, which is now being transformed into Torridge’s marine innovation centre, a research and development space for next-generation sustainable maritime initiatives.

These four sites pre-date the council’s responsibility to collect recycled material – before 2015, the service was contracted out.

It will act as the main hub for employees working in waste and recycling and street cleansing and includes high-spec vehicle workshops and parking for the council’s fleet of vehicles and vans. Showers, lockers, offices, meeting and function rooms, and state-of-the-art tech for training people and tracking vehicles all form part of the new centre.

There are EV charging points for visitors and the council vehicles, and it has been fully futureproofed for when the fleet is electrified… this will be when technology can cope with the rural hills across 384 square miles of Torridge district.

This is not a waste transfer station, as there will be no black-bag domestic waste or processing of recycled domestic material on site.

Torridge says the new location will enable improved operational efficiencies in the collection of household material and create capacity for the future growth of the district.

Fifty percent of the waste, recycling, and green waste collections for the whole of the Torridge district are within a 10-mile radius of the site, and its proximity to the Instow Junction of the A39 offers good connectivity and direct access to the material processing facilities in Brynsworthy, Barnstaple, and Deepmoor, Great Torrington.

TDC lead member for operational services, Cllr Chris Leather (Ind, Northam), said OSCAR would make savings for the council over time.

“It’s incredibly important we run a cost-effective service. Waste and recycling is probably the most public-facing service we have that matters to the public. If the bins are not collected or recycling left out, the phones are ringing right away.

“We are lucky that does not happen very often, as we have a good service – we really lead the way in this, and we have done it with not very good facilities. I am thrilled that we can now do it with a building which is probably the best in Devon.”

Cllr Leather said he first raised the issue of updating the facilities in the 1990s: “I think we all accepted that we needed to get out of Westcombe. The employees in the workshop have had to work with their overcoats on and are open to the elements.”

Council leader Ken James (Ind, Milton and Tamarside) said: “The fact we now have something state of the art and works for the whole area should stand us in good stead for the future. It may be under someone else’s control (after local government reorganisation), but that’s politics, I’m afraid.

“I hope that we have demonstrated to the local communities that we are committed to having better facilities for our workforce and improved services for taxpayers.”

Waste and recycling supervisor Stuart Allen said crews were enthusiastic and excited about the move.

“It helps staff morale when you have a very nice base to work from, and it’s a one-stop shop for crews whether they have a problem with a vehicle or need more PPE.”

The attenuation ponds will have tree planting and a wellbeing area with picnic tables for staff and act as a buffer between the building and nearby residents. There are no windows on the side of the building which faces residents to prevent overlooking.

The Westcombe and Piper’s Yard sites will be sold, and Torrington will be retained as a depot, with officers in charge of how it is used in the future.