A NEW £3m recycling centre will be built in Kidlington as part of a plan to beef up the county’s waste recycling efforts.

The flagship recycling facility will be created on farmland off Langford Lane, near Oxford Airport.

The county council also plans to improve Oxford’s Redbridge recycling centre, in Abingdon Road and provide a replacement for the Dean Pit centre, near Charlbury.

A County Hall spokesman said the Kidlington centre would mean people from the village and parts of Oxford would have much shorter journeys to a recycling site.

The project is seen as having a key role in reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill sites and helping the county hit a target of recycling 60 per cent of its waste in the next few years.

Ian Hudspeth, the council’s cabinet member for infrastructure, said: “The enhancement of the waste recycling experience and promotion of education are at the heart of the county council’s waste reduction plans.

“We want not only to provide the best recycling facilities, but also to equip Oxfordshire’s citizens and young recyclers with the knowledge, skills and opportunities to make the cultural changes needed to help reduce waste in the 21st century.”

The Kidlington centre is expected to open next year, bringing the number of recycling sites provided around the county to nine.

An information centre to promote recycling will be provided, designed to accommodate school groups. There are also plans for a re-use store, where people could pick up furniture, electrical appliances and other items that can be reused, and a reception area for some commercial waste.

Much of the waste reception area will be under cover, to make using the centre more attractive to the public.

And similar under-cover facilities are planned at Redbridge as part of the project to improve the Oxford site.

Mr Hudspeth said: “We need to provide a better facility at Redbridge. It’s not a very pleasant place to go.

“There are many things we can do, such as providing covered areas and making it easier for people to know where they should go within the site.”

The Redbridge centre in recent years has become a victim of its own success, with users complaining that it is often overcrowded, with long queues of cars and vans increasingly common as the recycling services expand.

In west Oxfordshire, the authority plans to replace the existing recycling centre at Dean Pit, between Charlbury and Chadlington.

The location of the replacement has yet to be confirmed but it will be near to the existing centre.

The council hopes the new complex will be ready for use by the public next year, when the Dean Pit site is due to close.