Margot investigates new procedures at Stourbridge tip

Following a spate of complaints about appointment times being required for people bringing trailers to the tip on Birmingham Street Margot met the Head of Waste Services, Graham Bailey, and his management team at the site.

Previously people with trailers could just queue up with everyone else to dump rubbish. The narrow footpath between vehicles and the dump bins had led to accidents. In a three separate cases last year people had been pinned to the wall by vehicles that did not see them.

There followed a safety review which led to the extension of the footpath and the siting of bollards all along it preventing vehicles from getting to close to the wall and potentially trapping pedestrians. The width of the footpath now means that space for trailers is restricted.

So trailer owners have to call ahead to book appointments and slots are restricted to 48 per week. Margot said “the abuse of health and safety is now so widespread, it is used as an excuse for further restrictions in every walk of life that I was initially sceptical of the rationale behind the widened footpath and subsequent restrictions on trailers. Having visited the site and heard about the cases of personal injury last year I am persuaded that the operator, SITA, had to take action”.

But there is a risk that the new processes, that do make it harder and more inconvenient for those people wishing to dispose of their rubbish in the proper way, will lead to an increase in fly tipping by a minority. So Margot discussed ways of improving the situation for trailer drivers with Graham Bailey and his team.

Margot is pleased to report that management are looking at ways of expanding the times available to trailer drivers. There is a possibility of extra slots being made available for trailers especially during the summer months when the site is open for longer.