EXTRA weekend appointments to use the borough’s waste tip have now been added.

Dudley Council has added 100 extra slots to use the civic amenity site in Birmingham Street, Stourbridge, to increase capacity at busiest times.

The extra slots – 50 on Saturday and 50 on Sundays – take the number of appointments available at the weekends from 700 to 750 per day, and bring the weekly total of available slots to nearly 4,700.

Late night opening has switched from Thursday to Monday to allow residents who can’t get to the tip at the weekend to use the earliest late booking after work to attend the site.

The council had increased weekday opening until 6pm over the summer but bosses said uptake had been less than 40 per cent and it had been costing the authority money.

By switching some of the weekday opening hours to their standard times, the authority has been able to provide extra weekend slots to meet demand.

Councillor Shaz Saleem, Dudley's cabinet member for highways and public realm, said: “This is about making the best use of the tip and meeting customer demand. We know most people want to use the tip at the weekend so we’ve created an extra 50 slots per day.

"We’ve also brought the late night opening forward to a Monday so that people who can’t get to us over the weekend can head over to us after work on a Monday after they’ve had a weekend clear-out, rather than having to wat until a Thursday."

People can book a slot online or by calling Dudley Council Plus.

The new times are: Monday 8am to 6pm and Tuesday to Friday 8am to 4pm. Weekend opening times remain the same at 8am to 4pm.

The changes will be in place until September 30 but they will be monitored to see if further improvements can be made.