COUNTY COUNCIL BOSSES SET DATE FOR LIFTING CLOSURE NOTICES ON MOST CIVIC WASTE CITES

FANS of recycling in Atherstone will soon be heading back to the town's closest civic tips but likely shouting "rubbish" at the new restrictions being imposed by worried council bosses in Covid-tainted era.

The household waste centres at Dordon and Tuttle Hill, Nuneaton are to reopen later this month with a tranche of measures – including an online booking service – all designed to ensure social distancing is observed and crazy queues are avoided at all costs.

While Monday, May 18 is seen as 'salvation day' for the thousands of people forced to hoard their excess waste since March 24 – it will not be without its frustrations as easing of recycling lockdown comes with the necessary "strings attached".

The reopening decision follows Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick's announcement at the end of last month that he had written to local authorities across the UK telling them to plan to get centres operational again.

The delay between announcement and effecting the decision is to ensure that sufficient staff are available to open and supervise the safety of centres.

A statement from Warwickshire County Council tonight said: "Although the Government has given permission for local authorities to reopen household waste recycling centres, its guidance advises they should only be used where essential.

"If possible, waste should either be stored safely at home or put with kerbside collections which have been maintained by the district and borough councils."

In order to safely manage numbers at the centres when they reopen, and to minimise the effects of traffic in the areas, the county council is finalising an online booking service which must be used to order a slot at either Lower House Farm or Judkins before turning up.

Further details of that will be announced next week along with guidance on how to make a booking.

Councillor Heather Timms, portfolio holder for environment and heritage and culture, said: "We have been acutely aware that residents want to get to our recycling centres so we are delighted at the revised guidance from Government.

"Our officers have been working very hard to make sure that we can be open as soon as this was safe to do so, both for staff and for members of the public and I would like to thank them for their efforts in recent weeks.

"DEFRA's statement that HWRCs can reopen does not mean that this can happen immediately.

"We still have some work to do to ensure safety measures are in place at the sites and also on the surrounding roads so I stress that HWRCs will not be open this weekend nor next weekend.

"Reopening on May 18 is a huge step towards resuming something approaching a normal service. "When this happens, I ask that customers are patient and show kindness and respect to each other and staff." The Local Government Association has said the reopening process will "not be without its challenges – requiring social distancing measures, traffic management and co-ordination. "Most importantly, there needs to be clear guidance to both the police and the public as to what constitutes an essential journey to a household waste recycling centre during lockdown." County bosses have thanked North Warwickshire Borough Council for managing waste throughout the lockdown period by maintaining, and in some cases extending, what they have been collecting at kerbsides. The 'thanks' from households in the town and surrounding villages for the efforts of North Warwickshire's bin men and women has been self-evident with a "wall of gratitude" covering the Atherstone-based local authority's Waste Services' offices. A depleted refuse workforce kept main and recycling collections going as "best they could" after the borough council had to suspend the green bin service until early May, blaming the decision on "many key staff" being unable to work through having to self-isolate and changes to working practices. On Monday, the garden waste collection service was reopened.