A PETITION calling for a recycling centre in East Lothian to be reopened has been rejected by councillors.

More than 2,000 people signed the petition calling on East Lothian Council to reopen Macmerry Recycling Centre, which has been mothballed since October last year.

The council took the decision to keep the facility closed this year as part of its budget cuts – saving about £75,000.

Conservative South Scotland MSP Craig Hoy launched the petition, calling for the decision to be reversed. He said that residents had reported more incidents of fly-tipping and faced almost twice the length of journey to take rubbish to the remaining three recycling centres in the county.

READ MORE: Council to decide on Macmerry Recycling Centre petition

And presenting his case to the council’s petitions committee on Wednesday, he said: “I launched this petition not off my own back but because people came to me to directly share their concerns.”

Mr Hoy – a former Haddington and Lammermuir ward councillor before being elected to Holyrood in 2021 – said that his petition, which gathered 2,168 signatures, had picked up a third of its support from the Haddington area, where council headquarters are based, and about 22 per cent from the Tranent and Macmerry area.

And he urged the committee to take the decision back to a full meeting of the council so it could be overturned.

However, Councillor Norman Hampshire (Labour), council leader, accused Mr Hoy of bringing the petition for "political purposes", asking where the money would come from to reopen the centre.

Mr Hoy told the meeting that the Conservative councillors on East Lothian Council had offered alternative solutions to the budget which would have freed up money for the recycling centre.

READ MORE: Petition against Macmerry Recycling Centre closure signed by thousands

He said: “There was the option to restructure the planning service with a saving of £200,000. There was also a proposal from the Conservative Group to streamline management, saving another £100,000.

“I greatly respect the work of everyone who works for the council but I think, if you ask residents struggling to get to the recycling centres whether they would opt for Macmerry reopening or keeping two middle managers, they would opt for greater access to recycling.”

The council currently has three recycling centres in the county: at Dunbar, North Berwick and Wallyford.

Mr Hampshire told the meeting that he was on record as saying the county needed another recycling site but said: “The reason we can’t proceed with that is the financial situation.

“The Conservative Group did propose alternatives to our budget which would have allowed Macmerry to open but they were proposing taking £1 million from Enjoy Leisure [which runs leisure facilities in East Lothian]. That would have resulted in the closure of two swimming pools.

“Do you think people in Haddington, Tranent and North Berwick would be happy if their swimming pool closed so Macmerry could remain open? I don’t think so, you have to get real.

“I cannot support this petition, I think it has been purely done for political purposes rather than community benefit.”

Councillor Jeremy Findlay, Conservative, raised a point of order on the council leader’s comments, saying: “There has been no evidence that this petition is political.”

Councillor John McMillan, Labour, told the meeting that he was sorry when he heard about the Macmerry centre being mothballed, saying: “Although I was disappointed, I think it was the right decision. There has been inconvenience, but purely inconvenience.”

The petition was rejected by three votes to one, with Mr Findlay supporting it and councillors McMillan, Hampshire and Lee-Anne Menzies rejecting it.