Sandwell Council's Oldbury tip to reopen on Monday with new rules

The site in Oldbury will be back open on Monday with limited hours and will only be accessible for Sandwell residents.

People using the site in Shidas Lane, which closed six weeks ago due to the coronavirus pandemic, will need to bring two forms of ID including a photographic one.

Vans, trailers and traders will be banned and only one person per car will be permitted to enter apart from in certain circumstances.

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Two people will be allowed to enter if they are unloading a bulky item, or if someone is disabled and carries a Blue Badge. In both cases, people must be from the same household.

Staff on site will not be able to help the public with their waste disposal or unloading due to social distancing.

Tips closed across the region after the lockdown was introduced and there have been concerns about increased fly-tipping levels in the borough with Wednesbury one of the affected areas.

Tips across Walsall, Dudley and Staffordshire have already announced they will be reopening next week.

In Telford people were turned away after the wait to get into council tips reached 75 minutes on the third day of them being back open.

In Oldbury a one-way traffic system will be in place to manage the queues.

'Essential'

Councillor Maria Crompton, deputy leader of Sandwell Council, said: "I'm very pleased that the tip is reopening. I think it's essential.

"The closure has been causing people problems. My concern is everyone will turn up at once.

"It will cause massive queues. Obviously so many people can go at a time. We have got to do social-distancing. We will be looking to do a one-way system.

"We have pressed Serco to open it up because of all the fly-tipping everywhere.

"Our residents have been concerned they can't take their rubbish to the tip and there has been so much fly-tipping going on."

She added: "Please don't all rush there on day one. There's going to be queues everywhere, that is my worry."

The tip will open Monday to Friday between 10am to 2pm and will be closed on the weekend.

Any waste from a household where someone has had Covid-19 symptoms should be left for at least 72 hours before being disposed of and personal waste should be safely double bagged.

This applies when putting rubbish in household bins and when visiting the tip.

Annette Joyce, regional director at Serco, said: "Our Household Recycling Centre has always received positive feedback from the residents of Sandwell and we’re pleased to be able to be in a position to reopen to help residents dispose of waste that isn’t safe to store at their properties.

"We’ll need to protect staff as well as residents using the site so we will be implementing social distancing measures such as limiting the number of cars that can enter the site and our operatives won’t be able to assist with bulky items.

"If residents do have to visit the tip, please be patient and follow guidance of our onsite operatives, who do a tremendous job."