‘It was a free-for-all’: Complaints made about lack of social distancing at ‘congested’ Northampton tip

A tip that reopened last month after its pandemic closure has been the subject of a complaint regarding its social distancing measures.

Ecton Lane recycling centre in Billing was called a ‘free-for-all’ and ‘congested’ by a local resident who visited the site on Sunday (June 28).

According to the resident, there was only one of the four ramps open so everyone was walking up and down the same way.

The resident, who wishes to remain anonymous, said: “It was a free-for-all and when I pointed it out to the staff they just said I was being awkward and if I didn’t feel safe I should leave.

“There was no sign of any of the safety measures the council promised. Cars and vans were crammed in and some were parked in areas where you’re not supposed to park.

“Nobody was limiting numbers of vehicles coming in yet only one of the four ramps was open for household and garden waste, so everybody was going the same way.

“While all this was going on one of the staff was leaning on a closed at the bottom of one of the other ramps.

“When I asked what was going on, he said he had to be there to make sure nobody opened the gate and went up.

“There was a sign but it was at the bottom of the side of the ramp where you walk down.

“The one the other side was about two metres away from the ramp and at waist height, so if you were carrying an arm full of rubbish like I was you simply couldn’t see it.

“Truth is, you couldn’t help but bump into people because it was so congested.

“There were probably 15 cars in there which seemed way too many."

Northamptonshire County Council disputed the comments and said there was a member of staff ‘regulating the flow of traffic’.

Cllr Jason Smithers, cabinet member for highways and place, said: “With regard to the specific comments made, we have contacted our contractor to find out more about site operations at Ecton Lane HWRC over the weekend and we have reviewed CCTV footage.

“After conducting an initial enquiry, we can confirm that there was a member of staff on the site regulating the flow of traffic into the unloading area and the number of cars that were unloading at any one time was limited to 15, which is the correct number of vehicles under the safe system of work for Ecton Lane HWRC.

“If the resident who made the original complaint would like to contact the Council directly, we can investigate further.”

Talking more generally about how the county’s tips are now operating, Cllr Smithers added: “Northamptonshire’s Household Waste Recycling centres re-opened on May 18, 2020 with on-site operations adjusted to enable social distancing.

“The number of vehicles able to unload at each site at any one time is limited and other measures, including the spacing of parking bays and the number of waste containers in operation, have also been introduced as part of the social distancing measures.

“Site staff are on hand to encourage and remind people to maintain social distancing, however they are not able to enforce this.

“Whilst our site staff do their utmost to ensure these rules are adhered to, there is also a responsibility on the site users to ensure that they follow our site markings and instructions given out by the staff.

“Since the HWRCs re-opened six weeks ago, more than 110,000 vehicles have been to the network of nine sites and there has been an increase in the demand for the services each week.

“The site staff regularly adjust the way each site operates in order to balance a reasonable throughput of vehicles, which reduces queuing times, and allows site users to socially distance from each other.

“HWRC operations are being reviewed again to take account of the new guidelines which take effect on July 4.

“The Council asks all of Northamptonshire’s residents who choose to use the HWRC services to follow the government’s social distancing guidelines and listen to any instructions given by site staff.”

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