Derbyshire County Council Has Yet To Set A Date For Newhall Tip Re-opening

Derbyshire County Council is unable to say when household waste and recycling tips will reopen – despite other authorities laying out their plans.

Yesterday (Tuesday, April 28) neighbouring authority Leicestershire County Council said it plans to reopen tips on the week starting May 18.

It said it was in talks with adjacent authorities to coordinate on the same date – presumably to avoid a rush of motorists to certain tips.

And the recycling centre at Main Street in Newhall was expected to be re-opening for Swadlincote residents.

This follows Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick's announcement that he is calling on councils to "plan the organised opening" of household waste recycling centres, provided safe social distancing can be maintained.

But Derbyshire cannot at this stage shed light on when the 10 tips in the county and city will reopen, other than in the next few weeks, rather than a few days.

The 10 tips across the county closed on March 24 – more than a month ago – and there are growing calls for them to be reopened, particularly due to the strain on bin collection services.

That has led to many councils in the county to stop garden waste pick-ups and without open tips this has led to residents gathering ever-increasing stockpiles – and some to fly-tip waste, using up valuable and stretched council resources.

The county council was asked by the Local Democracy Reporting Service whether it would reopen on the same day as Leicestershire and if it was not, why tips are remaining closed.

Councillor Simon Spencer, Derbyshire County Council's deputy leader and cabinet member for highways, transport and infrastructure, said: "We are doing all we can to get our Household Waste  Recycling Centres reopen as soon as we can, but this is going to take a few weeks rather than a few days.

"I know that many people would like to see our centres open and I'd like to thank them for their patience and understanding.

"Before we reopen we need to make sure that we consider all of the practicalities, like putting social distancing measures in place, and make sure that our contractors can deal with the waste that people bring into us, many of whom have been storing it since lockdown started.

"We're pulling all the stops out to make this happen as quickly as possible, and as soon as we can confirm a date we will let people know.

"We will also need to work with the police as we will need their agreement for plans to manage the traffic around many of our sites, especially those next to major roads.

"And we need the Government to make it clear that visiting a site is classed as an essential journey.

"We'll also be continuing our discussions with our colleagues in the districts and boroughs to make sure that before we do reopen that they are on top of all the kerbside collections so that there should no need to bring excess normal domestic waste to our centres.

"We are also consulting with our neighbouring county councils through the County Council Network to see if we can all open on the same date which will avoid people from one area visiting another."

Leaving waste at the recycling centre gates or anywhere else is classed as fly tipping and is a criminal offence for which people will be prosecuted and fined up to £50,000.

Raynesway tip, overseen by Derby City Council, also remains closed until further notice.