THE county council has responded to calls for the re-opening of several tips in Worcestershire.

The recent re-opening of tips has causes severe traffic problems in places such as Malvern, where cars had to be redirected through the nearby Highways Department depot to get onto the site.

Malvern Hills district councillor Martin Allen called for the Upton tip to reopen, saying it would relieve pressure on the othes in the region.

In response, county councillor Tony Miller, cabinet member with responsibility for environment, said: “We successfully opened seven out of 11 of the Household Recycling Centres across the county on Monday May 11 with strict social distancing measures and restrictions in place to keep visitors and staff safe.

“To achieve this, additional staff are required at the sites that are open.

“While we continue to assess daily how these new measures are working, we are also planning how we can safely reopen the remaining HRCs.”

Cllr Allen spoke last week about re-opening the Upton tip, saying: “Since the government have said that these sites should be re-opened, and due to the chaos at the Malvern town waste site, I would urge the county council to set a date to open Upton to relieve the pressure at other sites.

“I’m surprised that Upton was not the first to re-open as it has many advantages. It is based on a large carpark that lends itself to off road queuing, and would have allowed the county council to safely trial reopening one of their sites while ensuring social distancing to keep employees of Severn Side Waste, council officers and members of the public safe.”

In Worcester, St John’s councillor Richard Udall said the council should re-open the tip in Hallow Road.

On Twitter, he said: “More reports of fly tipping today, also reports of illegal waste collection. No more excuses, it’s time to reopen.”

Last week saw chaos as dozens of drivers tried to get into the Malvern tip, causing major queues.

To prevent the closure of the A449, the county council highways department took the decision to open up its depot to allow drivers to get to the tip without causing traffic problems.

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