Wolverhampton tip opening hours extended after complaints

Tip hours in Wolverhampton will be temporarily extended after lengthy queues led to dozens of complaints.

Published Apr 25, 2015

Wolverhampton City Council will temporarily extend the weekend opening hours of its Anchor Lane, Lanesfield, and Shaw Road, Bushbury, sites.

The decision, which takes effect from today, is in response to recent heavy usage of the sites. Queues of up to 60 cars had been forming at the Anchor Lane centre, and jams at Shaw Road had stretched down Bushbury Lane, Stafford Road and Showell Road.

This was the scene in January when drivers in Wolverhampton who wanted to recycle items were queuing from the Anchor Lane Recyling tip all the way to the Black Country Route due to the Civic Amenity site at Bushbury site being closed

The problems arose after the opening hours at both tips were slashed due to council cuts.

Dozens of complaints have been made to the authority and councillors, with some people fly-tipping their waste instead of sitting in the queues. Nearby businesses said they had lost trade and police had been called to deal with arguments breaking out between drivers waiting to get into the tip and those trying to access other businesses.

Yesterday, the council announced both household waste and recycling centres will extend their opening hours by two hours on Saturdays and Sundays, meaning they will close at 6pm instead of 4pm.

Chris Huddart, the council's head of commercial services, said: "We are aware that there have been some issues on certain days due to the spike in demand caused by the warm weather and holidays. "People often get out in their gardens or start doing DIY and create waste which they want to take to the tip."