North Ayrshire locals are being reminded that the three waste recycling centres are set to operate new opening hours from early October.

Traditionally, the centres open longer in summer and shorter hours in winter.

However, from Monday, October 2, the three mainland household waste recycling centres (HWRC) will be open from 10am until 4.30pm, seven days a week, all-year round.

This means the seasonal opening hours will no longer be operated at Bartonholm HWRC in Irvine; Kilbirnie HWRC in Kilbirnie; and Largs HWRC in Largs.

The changes, which were approved back in February 2016, have been introduced as a result of reducing finances available to North Ayrshire Council along with an increased demand for some services.

However, the changes to opening hours have been designed to ensure minimal impact on residents who use the waste recycling centres.

Using Automatic Number Plate Recognition, the Council was able to track usage of the facilities.

As a result, this means sites will open slightly later and close slightly earlier each day – opening at the times when the sites were more commonly used.

A North Ayrshire Council spokesperson said: “Ideally, we would want to keep the waste recycling centres open longer but that is not possible given the annual reduction in funding the Council has had to deal with.

“Since 2010/11, the Council has had to find £73m of savings which has not been an easy task.

“We also face a potential funding gap to 2019/20 of up to £44m which means that difficult decisions have to be taken.

“Nevertheless, although we have reduced the opening hours at our waste recycling centres, we are ensuring that they are remaining open at peak times, seven days a week.”

The new opening times of 10am- 4.30pm will be in operation seven days a week. Users should be aware that the last entry to the public will be at 4.15pm.

North Ayrshire Council currently operates four waste recycling sites – one site per 34,500 residents – which is well above the national average.

The authority also continues to have among the highest rates of recycling in Scotland and the latest-available figures show North Ayrshire is the fourth-best performing local authority in Scotland when it comes to recycling.