'Don't be ridiculous': MP calls on councils to resolve Telford tip ban
The call comes amid increasing frustration from residents affected by the decision.
An MP has called on two councils to stop being “ridiculous” over a ban on residents using recycling centres.
At the start of the month Telford & Wrekin instituted a ban on non-residents using its tips - a decision which has implications for residents of nearby Shifnal and Sheriffhales.
People living in the town have a TF postcode but will now face a 23-mile round trip to Bridgnorth’s recycling centres, instead of being able to use the Telford & Wrekin Council-run Halesfield site just 3.2 miles away - because they live within the Shropshire Council boundary.
Telford & Wrekin Council has said the issue is costing it as much as £200,000 a year.
Mark Pritchard, Conservative MP for the Wrekin, called on Telford & Wrekin Council and Shropshire Council to resolve the issue.
In a video filmed outside Hortonwood Recycling Centre in Telford he said: “I am calling upon Shropshire Council, Liberal Democrat-led, and also Labour-led Telford & Wrekin Council to get together, to allow people with a ‘TF’ post code, for example in Sheriffhales or Shifnal, to be able to continue to use this recycling facility irrespective of the fact they are in the Shropshire Council area not the Telford & Wrekin area.
“It will just increase and lengthen journey times, the nearest recycling centres to say Shifnal is going to be in Bridgnorth, or Craven Arms even further away, or Shrewsbury, miles away.
“So I hope both councils will get together, sit around the table and negotiate a pragmatic way forward. If not we are likely to see, as I say longer car journeys, less recycling rates, unfortunately some additional fly tipping, of which there is too much already.”
Mr Pritchard said that if a resolution cannot be reached, he will call for new facilities to be made available for affected residents.
He said: “If the councils can’t do that then I am going to call upon Shropshire Council to provide new facilities for people in East Shropshire, new recycling facilities in order that we can reduce those car journeys and indeed maintain and increase recycling rates.
“There’s enough fly tipping as it is, there is not enough recycling, it could be increased further, but it is not going to help if people who live in places like Shifnal and all the villages in-between don’t have access to place like Hortonwood.
“So I am calling upon, as I say, both councils to be pragmatic, sensible, not to be ridiculous, and to allow people to continue to use the recycling facility here at Hortonwood.”
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