Tips preparing to reopen within the next few weeks amid anger over fly-tipping
Plans are being finalised to get tips in Wolverhampton open in the next few weeks – as the Black Country slowly opens up again in preparation for the end of lockdown.
Tips have been closed across the Black Country and Staffordshire since March and until now have shown no sign of reopening yet.
Last month a large amount of rubbish was fly-tipped outside the sealed-off entrance to Shaw Road recycling centre in the city – promoting Wolverhampton Council bosses to send out a warning.
Now, a plan is in place to reopen both the council tips in Shaw Road and Anchor Lane safely, but in stages – so not to overwhelm workers.
Currently, there are no plans to reopen the tips in Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall or Staffordshire.
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Councillor Steve Evans, environment chief at Wolverhampton Council, said: "At the height of the crisis, it was important we closed these services.
"We have developed plans which put social distancing at the heart of our safety approach, ensuring we protect residents and employees. This will mean a very different experience for visitors."
He has urged the public to be patient and bear with staff to help keep everyone safe, adding: "We are keen to get opening hours back to normal, but protecting public health and life, including staff who work at our sites, has to be our number one priority."
Last month after the tips were closed, council bosses hit out at "unacceptable" behaviour when fly-tippers dumped beds, kitchen appliances, mattresses, wooden cabinets and even a toilet outside Shaw Road recycling centre.
There have been other instances of fly-tipping across the region too. In Walsall, council leader Mike Bird said he would do everything he could to track down and "shame" fly-tippers after rubbish was dumped in the town after the closure of the Bloxwich and Aldridge tips.
Council bosses have said they will only open local tips when it is safe to do so. This include's Walsall boroughs two centres, the tip in Stourbridge run by Dudley Council, Sandwell Council's Oldbury recycling centre, and also the Staffordshire County Council tips in Stafford, Stone, Cannock, Burntwood, Lichfield, Bilbrook and Wombourne.
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In Staffordshire, environmental crime teams have been tackling fly-tipping with the help of the county council – after the county saw a surge in people dumping rubbish after all the centres were shut down.
Members of the public have gone as far as launching online petitions to try to get the tips to reopen.
Staffordshire County Council is yet to announce any plans but the authority has been offering support to district and borough council teams that tackle fly-tipping in their areas.
Cannock Chase Council member John Preece said illegal dumping had been reported in the Washbrook Lane area of Norton Canes.
He said: "It seems this is an ongoing issue with a lot of areas."
Mike Edmonds, head of environment and healthy lifestyles at Cannock Chase Council said: “The county council offered to provide some assistance with tackling fly-tipping.
"The recycling centres are closed and they are turning things round fairly quickly.
“The county council turned the Washbrook Lane and Newlands Lane areas round reasonably quickly – within a couple of hours.
"We are working with them to tackle these issues when we are aware of them.”
In other areas of the country there have been reports of a large rise in fly-tipping incidents.
South Staffordshire Council tweeted that it removed more than 200 rubbish piles during April.
But there has not been a major surge in fly-tipping reported in Staffordshire overall, the county council has said.
Mark Deaville, Staffordshire County Council’s cabinet member for commercial, said: "We are closely monitoring fly-tipping incidents across the county with the district and borough councils, who are doing fine work, and there has only been a small increase in reported cases.
“I detest this criminal behaviour and I think the people who do it would do it regardless of whether the recycling centres were open. We will be supporting prosecutions where possible against the small minority of individuals that carry out this illegal, anti-social activity.
“We greatly appreciate the vast majority of residents’ efforts in keeping their recyclable material at the home until we are able to reopen the network in Staffordshire."
