Dudley residents forced to pay for skips because council tip is too far away
Residents in Dudley are paying hundreds of pounds to hire a skip to dispose of rubbish after the council failed to provide a nearby tip.
Now residents in Upper Gornal and Woodsetton are forced to choose between spending their own cash or making the 18-mile round trip to Stourbridge to dispose of their rubbish – a journey that they say costs around £10 in petrol and could take up to an hour-and-a-half.
Access to their local tip on Anchor Lane in Coseley has been denied to residents after Dudley Council and Wolverhampton Council failed to agree a deal.
In addition, the nearest available tip in Stourbridge is available by appointment only and places are limited. This had led to an increase in fly-tipping and littering across the ward as residents take measures into their own hands.
Resident Brian Hinton says the problem has been going on for two years and he simply cannot afford to splash his hard-earned cash on a private skip. Brian said: “I’ve really missed it and so have 95 per cent of North Dudley. With the traffic and everything going through Brierley Hill it is absolutely ridiculous, there are about 14 sets of traffic lights from my house to Stourbridge.
‘You have to make an appointment now. Even if you travel the 18 miles to Stourbridge you might not get in when you get there.
“Previously I could do two or three trips in a day and it was brilliant. You could just go down there and get rid of your rubbish but now it really is bad.
“Petrol is extortionate, there’s a cost of living crisis. I just cannot afford to get out there.
“A lot of people are getting a skip which is costing over £150 which is really starting to escalate around here. I can’t afford £150 quid just like that for a skip and I don’t know why I should.”
The lack of access to a rubbish tip has seen a rise in fly-tipping in the area. Mr Hinton said he “regularly sees household rubbish being left on the street.”
He continued: “I go about regularly and there are mattresses and household rubbish, plasterboards being left on the street. There’s a car park up the road for the school and someone must have left the gate open and they came in a big van and dumped rubbish in there.
“Even the drains round here are full up with weeds, it’s ridiculous. Dudley Council even wanted us to pay for extra green bins.
“This area is called The Greens and I just want this estate to be decent. There is open greenery everywhere. Just tidy it up, that’s all I want. That’s why I’m always down the tip”.
Recently elected Upper Gornal and Woodsetton Councillor Adrian Hughes campaigned on the promise of returning access to the Anchor Lane recycling unit but after dialogue with Dudley Council broke down, he has now been told that use of the tip by residents would “exceed the council budget”.
Councillor Hughes said: “We are in a cost-of-living crisis and climate emergency and residents in my ward are expected to make a near 20-mile round trip to Stourbridge to dispose of waste, residents are very unhappy about this situation and the Conservatives who run the council want to shift the blame away from themselves which is unacceptable.
“We call on the leader of the council and cabinet member to get a grip and either negotiate the use of Anchor Lane again or take up some of the recommendations I put forward in my recent letter to the Cabinet member”
In response Councillor Shaz Saleem, cabinet member for highways and public realm, said: “We are continuing to look at waste disposal options for our residents in the in the north of the borough. However, this does not include an arrangement for the use of Anchor Lane as this is no longer an available option.
“I have prioritised to resolve this matter and we are looking at other viable options. I have asked concerned councillors to meet so we can find a way forward, but this has not yet happened.
“In the meantime, we have reviewed the hours of our own HWRC in Stourbridge and expanded them to offer 50 more slots at the weekend, our most popular time. Residents can book a slot online and know that they can attend with minimum hassle without getting stuck in a massive queue.
“Our free green waste collections continue fortnightly and we have expanded this offer too, allowing people to order additional collections over the winter for a small charge and we continue to offer discounted compost bins to our residents as well.”
