Work to build new ‘super tip’ in Walsall expected to start in the autumn
Work to build a new ‘super tip’ on a derelict industrial estate in Walsall is expected to begin in September, a new report has revealed.
Walsall Council is to build the new Household Waste Recycling Centre in Middlemore Lane, Aldridge.
A new report to Walsall Council's economy and environment overview and scrutiny committee, which meets this week, has revealed the intended start date for the project and said the successful contractor will be notified by mid-April.
The tip will be built on the former McKechnie Brass Ltd site on the Redhouse Industrial Estate after the plans were approved at a council planning meeting in May last year.
The new Aldridge site will operate seven days a week from 8am to 7pm and the waste transfer station on the same site will operate seven days a week from 7am to 6pm.
The new site will also house a “re-use and up-cycling shop” selling household furniture and goods and a trade waste facility for small businesses.
The centre will have a capacity of 40,000 tons a year while the waste transfer station, where waste is sorted, will have a 125,000-ton capacity.
The report says the existing Household Waste Recycling Centre at Fryers Road may be upgraded at a later date.
Once the new development is built, the existing Aldridge tip, on Merchants Way, would be closed.
A report to the economy and environment overview and scrutiny committee, which meets on Thursday, says: "At the time of writing this report, corporate procurement are finalising the evaluation outcome and writing the procurement report to be signed by executive director, economy, environment and communities, prior to the successful contractor being notified by mid-April 2023.
"Design work will commence in May 2023 and construction work will begin late September 2023 with an 18-month delivery programme.
"All four contractors returned compliant bids within the financial envelope approved by cabinet in October 2022 of approx. £30m for the design and build stages of Middlemore Lane.
"The capital funding is available in 2023/24 and 2024/25 financial years."
It says the Middlemore Lane site will also have blue badge car parking facilities for customers with mobility issues and there will be on-site support to assist customers with physical disabilities for unloading items.
Council chiefs have insisted the facilities will be more than a traditional “tip”.
The new and improved facilities in Aldridge will help the council to achieve the Government’s environmental targets, to recycle at least 65 per cent of Walsall’s waste by 2035 and send no more than 10 per cent of waste to landfill.
The plans will take place in stages, with new facilities completed at Middlemore Lane, the Fryers Road tip closing for redevelopment, and when both are back open the Merchants Way tip will shut.
There were some objections to the plans last year with concerns ranging from bad odours, attracting pests, increasing dust and litter, and traffic problems caused by HGVs entering and leaving the site.
But waste chiefs said the scheme was necessary to modernise the borough’s recycling services and will bring an end to frustrating queues for residents.
