A POPULAR West Cumbrian recycling site ravaged by arson attacks could soon be reopened.

Frequent fires at Egremont's Chapel Street recycling area forced owners Copeland Council to shut it down following damage costing £3,000.

Over 40 annoyed residents took to Facebook to complain about the "abuse by a minority". Copeland has now agreed to look into an alternative location.

One Egremont resident Ian Hurst said: "I know why they have done it but the policy of removing a service because a small minority have abused it is totally wrong - if this were applied to everything we need not have a council or mayor at all."

He had asked Copeland to "restore this service and try catch these vandals and not punish all the well meaning people who are trying to make the world a greener and better place."

Firefighters were called to the area three times last month to deal with blazes which destroyed two containers and saw cardboard collections set alight twice in a fortnight.

The attacks followed similar incidents in October last year.

Mr Hurst said: "Clearly security cameras need to be installed and in this case the fence removed from the site for a clearer view.

"Recently we took our cardboard to three local sites and all were overflowing, we finally ended up at Tescos to get rid of it.

"This is unacceptable. People need to be encouraged to recycle not given reasons not to bother."

However Fiona Rooney, Copeland's director of commercial and corporate resources, said: "We were unable to make use of CCTV because of legal issues around surveillance and privacy.

"We agree it was very sad to have to take the service away, and we understand Mr Hurst’s frustration. We did not take the decision lightly.

"But over the last few months vandalism at that site has cost Copeland residents around £3,000 and, after the fifth fire in a few months, we felt we had no choice."

Copeland Council is now liaising with Egremont Town Council to try to find a suitable alternative location.

"We hope that will come to fruition soon and we will be able to restore town centre recycling facilities, even if only for plastic and cardboard, which currently can't be collected at the kerbside," said Mrs Rooney.

"All homes in Egremont have our kerbside recycling service and we would encourage people to use it to recycle their glass, tins, cans and paper - there is no limit to the amount that can be put out for collection."

Figures recently obtained by the News & Star revealed that arsonists struck nearly 3,2000 times in Cumbria in the last five years - sparking fires at a rate of nearly two a day.

Black boxes - to collect recycling - are available by contacting the council on 01946 598300.