The authority is looking to shut some of its 23 waste management centres as part of an ongoing review aimed at slashing spending.

One of the options being considered is to close the St Annes site, on Everest Road, which has one of the highest recycling rates in the country at over 70 per cent.

This would mean residents would have to travel all the way to Saltcotes, on the other side of Lytham, to dump their waste.

Marcus Hudson, head of waste and minerals policy at Lancashire County Council, said: "The council is currently reviewing its network of 23 household waste recycling centres across the county, in the context of current and future budgetary pressures, but no decisions have yet been made. We recently completed a review of our waste management strategy, and identified a wide range of options for future provision of recycling centres.

"For Fylde, the options include retaining the two existing sites at Everest Road and Saltcotes, or closing Everest Road which might be alongside some major improvements at our Saltcotes centre in Lytham.

"A Task Group of members is now looking at the various options and will make a recommendation to the council, which will make the final decision. Any changes to the service that come out of these recommendations will not take place before April 2011."

Liberal Democrat Fylde Coun Tony Ford said the decision by Conservatives at County Hall to promise a council tax freeze had led to inevitable service cuts.

He is concerned about the prospect of fly-tipping in St Annes and said the extended journeys would lead to an increase in carbon emissions.

He said: "The household waste recycling centre in Lytham is impractical, traffic backs up on the B5259 Saltcotes Road/Mythop Road due to access problems and it can't cope with heavy demand. It is less well organised than St Annes.

"Wouldn't this closure be a waste of all the efforts Fylde Borough Council has put into developing an efficient kerbside recycling scheme when more waste which would normally be taken to the tip by residents will end up in the green and grey bins or fly tipped in our town or along rural roads?"

The Everest Road site currently employs three members of staff on weekdays, and five or six at weekends, depending on the season.

They are contractors working for Sita UK and the County Council said that only when a final decision had been made would the two parties discuss their future.

Resident Bob Dagnall, a regular user of the St Annes site, believes a lot of people would be affected should it shut.

He said: "We go down there every Monday. It's such a shame because the staff are always very helpful and it's one of the best recycling places in the country. I can't see all the people in St Annes going all the way to Saltcotes."