Craven residents and businesses are being urged to take note of changes to refuse and recycling collections, and council opening hours over the Christmas and New Year period.

The council offices will close at 2.45pm on Thursday December 20, and at 3pm on Friday December 21, and will then be closed until 9am on Wednesday, January 2.

During the week following Christmas, there will be a number of changes to the domestic waste collections.

There will be no collections on Christmas Day, Tuesday December 25, and Boxing Day, Wednesday December 26.

Collections scheduled for Christmas Day, Tuesday December 25, will take place a day early, on Christmas Eve, Monday December 24.

Collections scheduled for Wednesday December 26 will take place on Thursday December 27. If your normal collection day would be Thursday, December 27, your waste will be collected on Friday, December 28, and if your normal collection day would be Friday, December 28, your waste will be collected on Saturday, December 29. 

The following week, there will be no collections on New Year’s Day, Tuesday, January 1. If your collection would normally take place on Tuesday, January 1, your collection will instead take place on Wednesday, January 2. If your usual collection day is Wednesday, your collection will happen on Thursday, January 3. If your usual collection day is Thursday, your collection will take place on Friday, January 4, and if your usual collection day is Friday, your collection will take place on Saturday, January 5.

These details are all available on the council website at http://www.cravendc.gov.uk/christmasbins and residents can also check their collection times by using the website search function at www.cravendc.gov.uk/your-area

There will also be some changes to commercial waste collections, with no collections on December 25, 26 and 31 and January 1.

Commercial collections due on Tuesday December 25 will take place on Monday December 24, while collections due on Wednesday December 26 will take place on Thursday December 27.

The following week, commercial collections due on Monday December 31 will take place on Wednesday January 2, and collections due on Tuesday January 1 will take place on Thursday January 3. All other commercial collections will take place as normal. 

This year the council has decided not to provide a one-off garden waste collection in mid-January, and will also not be providing a free collection service for Christmas trees. This is due to limited take-up in previous years and a lack of economic and environmental benefit.  

Instead the council will be setting up designated drop-off points for residents to recycle their real Christmas trees.  Residents are asked to ensure all decorations have been removed from the tree before taking it to a collection point.

These drop-off points will be in Coach Street car park, Skipton, Grasmere Close Car Park, Bentham, and the Co-op Car Park, Crosshills.

Sites will be open on Saturday January 12, 2019, between 8am and 12noon only. 

Householders can also deliver Christmas trees free of charge to the Household Waste Recycling Centres at Skibeden, A59 Harrogate Road, Skipton or Sowarth Field Industrial Estate, Settle.

These sites are open six days a week from 8.30am to 4pm, throughout October to March (excluding Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day). These sites are closed on Wednesdays.

Sue Ryder Manorlands is also offering Christmas tree collections in return for a donation, in the Skipton and South Craven area. To find out more about these collections go to https://www.sueryder.org/support-us/fundraise/events/manorlands-christmas-tree-collection-service-2019 or call 01535 640 430.

Residents can continue to recycle their paper and cardboard, glass, cans, plastic bottles and cartons over the festive season using the council’s kerbside collection schemes.

For further information regarding these services or for helpful tips on how to reduce the amount of waste produced over the Christmas and New Year period, please visit www.cravendc.gov.uk