Lincolnshire County Council opens second lane at Spalding Household Waste and Recycling Centre to prevent queues on West Marsh Road and the A16

Council bosses have opened a second lane at Spalding tip in a bid to alleviate the traffic queues - but calls have been made for a new location as a longer-term solution.

Heavy congestion is regularly reported around Spalding’s Household Waste and Recycling Centre in West Marsh Road and the A16 - with issues also being seen on Friday last week.

Lincolnshire County Council, which owns the site, says it has now opened a second lane at the facility in the hope of alleviating the problems witnessed around the site.

A spokesman said: “We’ve opened a second stopping lane at Spalding recycling centre this week, to see if it can help us reduce queuing at the site and help visitors through quicker.

“We previously had safety issues using that lane, and so it had to be closed, but we’ve decided to trail using it again and hopefully reduce the impact of queueing traffic on nearby roads.

“We’d like to remind residents using the site to please follow all staff instructions and keep any children or dogs inside their vehicles at all times.”

County councillor Gary Taylor said that the people from across the district travel to Spalding tip and that issues may have been increased as the rules have been tightened aroundusage of waste recycling centres in Norfolk and Cambridgeshire.

He said: “The problem is because that one tip is for the whole of district and not just for Spalding and people make the effort to travel to Spalding.

“The longer term solution would be the need for a new one elsewhere, although that tip is fine for a certain part of the population.

“The tip being closed for two days a week adds to the issue and makes people go on a Friday and adds to the congestion.”

Fellow county councillor Rob Gibson and the late Coun Angela Newton were told last year during a meeting at Spalding tip that the main issue is the amount of green waste deposited at the West Marsh Road site.

He said: “The amount that goes to Spalding outweighs everywhere else else by a hundred tonnes and that is the biggest problem.

“I spoke to the portfolio holder this week and they have opened the second lane. He said to me that the queues should be going away.”

Coun Gibson also stated that the costs of putting in a filter lane at the tip were astronomical and with little chance to extend the current site.

He also said: “There’s some waste ground between the tip and district council depot site. I did point this out to someone but they said it was a non-starter as the landowner was not willing to sell.”