DUDLEY Council chiefs say they have had no choice but to end an agreement which has traditionally allowed residents from the borough to use a neighbouring authority's tip in the Wolverhampton area.

Residents in the Dudley borough have for many years been able to use the household waste site in Anchor Lane, which is owned and run by Wolverhampton City Council, as part of an agreement with Dudley Council which has paid an annual fee to enable its residents to use the site.

Local authority bosses in Dudley, however, say they have been left with no alternative but to end the deal after a request to increase the fee by 65 per cent.

From tomorrow (Thursday April 1) Dudley residents will no longer be able to use the Anchor Lane site and instead will be asked to use the Dudley Council owned household waste recycling centre in Stourbridge.

Heidi Marsh-Geyton, acting director of public realm, said: "The agreement has been in place for many years but following a big increase in the annual charge we have had to end that agreement.

"We have offered to increase our fee on a number of occasions, but this has been declined. It is really important we maintain a balance between providing first class, convenient services and facilities for residents while also providing value for money.

"We are extremely disappointed and we have not taken this decision lightly, as we know this change will cause inconvenience for people who are used to using the Anchor Lane site. But I would urge them to use the facilities at Stourbridge instead."

Ross Cook, City of Wolverhampton Council’s director for city environment, said of the situation: “We asked that Dudley Council pay a fair and proportionate share of the running costs for Anchor Lane.

"This included staffing costs and the cost for disposal of waste from the site, taking into account the number of Dudley residents using Anchor Lane.

"Unfortunately we were not able to reach an agreement, however it is not right for people living in Wolverhampton to subsidise use of the site for Dudley residents.”

From Thursday April 1 residents will not be able to use the Anchor Lane tip and instead will be asked to use the household waste recycling centre in Stourbridge, which is owned and run by Dudley Council.

Dudley residents are also not permitted to use Wolverhampton’s Shaw Road Household Waste and Recycling Centre.

The Stourbridge tip, off Birmingham Street, will be open every day from 8am to 4pm from Thursday April 1 and from Tuesday April 6 the opening times will increase from 8am to 6pm - Monday to Friday, and 8am to 4pm on Saturday and Sunday.

People need to book an appointment to use the site. This can be done online at dudley.gov.uk.

Council bosses say the new measures will allow an extra 1,000 cars a week through the Stourbridge site, and increase overall capacity to more than 4,500 a week, while still maintaining current social distancing measures on site.