Express & Star

More traffic jams outside Black Country tip after opening times cut

More traffic jams are forming in the Black Country due to controversial cuts to opening times at a tip.

Published

Jams are forming outside the Fryers Road site in Bloxwich.

It comes just days after the Express & Star reported that police have had to deal with spats between drivers as traffic jams build up at two other tips in Wolverhampton that have had their hours slashed.

The problems in Bloxwich have led to concerns that people will grow sick of the queues and fly-tip their rubbish instead,.

The site is now closed for two days a week, rather than one, and Councillor Pete Smith said people have been waiting up to 30 minutes to deposit their rubbish.

Along with the borough's other site in Merchants Way, Aldridge, Fryers Road is now closed an extra day a week and has shorter opening hours in a bid to save nearly £100,000 for the cash-strapped council.

Councillor Smith, who visited the tip earlier this month, said: "As I turned from Leamore Lane on to Fryers Road, I was immediately in a long traffic jam, all queueing for the tip. I was in the queue for more than 30 minutes before I arrived at the destination, just a few hundred yards away. It should have taken five minutes maximum.

"I saw many frustrated motorists giving up and turning around. Who knows what they then did with their rubbish?

"This is a result of the tip now being closed on both Thursday and Friday. Not only is it causing inconvenience and long queues, it is also creating a traffic problem on Fryers Road.

"This false economy has not been thought out by the council leadership. We're now left with traffic congestion, frustrated and long- waiting recycle-conscious residents and maybe, as a by-product, extra frustrated and angry new fly-tippers."

But Mark Holden, head of Streetpride at the council, said there had been queues previously, but this was mainly believed to be due to school holidays and warm weather.

"The new opening times from April 1 at Merchants Way, Aldridge, and Fryers Road, Leamore, were well publicised on the Walsall Council website, through our social media and leaflets distributed at both sites," he said.

"Individually Fryers Road is open every day, except Thursday and Friday, from 9am to 5pm and Merchants Way open every day, except Tuesday and Wednesday, from 9am to 5pm."

Similar reports of chronic queues have been reported in Wolverhampton, which has also had its hours slashed in a bid to save cash for the council.

Jams are forming at the Anchor Lane recycling centre in Lanesfield.

And traffic at the other site in Shaw Road, Bushbury, has stretched down Bushbury Lane, Stafford Road and Showell Road.

It comes after the opening hours at both tips were slashed due to council cutbacks.

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