Marking the opening of Hardley Depot

25 March 2025

We have marked the opening of our new Hardley Depot, as part of plans to expand our fleet and invest in operational services.

The new depot replaces our Claymeadow Depot in Totton and will be used as a base for local services including waste and recycling collections, street cleaning, and open spaces management. It's also home to pest control and corporate tree services covering the New Forest district.

On Monday 24 March, Cllr David Hawkins, Chairman of the Council, was joined by Sam Course, Grounds Maintenance Operative, who recently completed an apprenticeship with us, to cut the ribbon to officially open the depot.

Speeches were given before guests had a site tour, including the main office building, an expansive workshop to maintain vehicles and plant machinery, and a vehicle storage area.

Cllr Geoffrey Blunden, Portfolio Holder for Environment and Sustainability, said: "Hardley Depot has been designed to provide larger and modernised facilities, and to support our hard-working staff as we invest in and improve the important services they provide for residents.

"We have designed our yard area to have the space to host our new food waste vehicles, which will be arriving later this year as part of the third phase of our new waste and recycling service. We're aiming to achieve "BREEAM excellent" on this project, as part of our commitment to reducing our impact on the environment, and I'm very much looking forward to seeing the positive impact our new depot will have across the district."

Ben Alford, Contracts Manager of Knights Brown, the construction company who were commissioned by us to build the depot, said: "It's been a pleasure for Knights Brown to work with New Forest District Council on our second project together. The new state-of-the art depot at Hardley is a modern and welcoming space that has really transformed the working environment for council employees, which will ultimately benefit local residents who use the councils' valuable services."

Read more information about our waste collection service.

More news