THURROCK'S civic tip at Linford could soon be reopened if Thurrock council responds to a call by local government secretary Robert Jenrick.

The tip was one of the first services to be shut down by the council in March - and prompted criticism of the authority with residents fearing it would lead to a spate of fly-tipping.

On social media platforms in the borough there have been reports of an increase in dumping but one of the saddest consequences appears to be the death of two horses who ate grass clippings dumped in a local field where they graze.

Yesterday (Tuesday, 28 April) Mr Jenrick said he had written to councils telling them to plan to reopen tips and recycling centres.

"Our bin men and women have done a fantastic job maintaining the vast majority of collections," Mr Jenrick told the Commons.

"I'm asking councils to plan the organised re-opening of household waste collection sites. I expect this to happen over the coming weeks and will be publishing amended guidance shortly."

The local councils association has said: "The government has now indicated that they want councils to re-open their centres and local authorities have already begun preparations to do just that in the coming weeks.

"This will not be without its challenges – requiring social distancing measures, traffic management and co-ordination across the country.

"Most importantly, there needs to be clear guidance to both the police and the public as to what constitutes an essential journey to a household waste recycling centre during lockdown."

As well as shutting down the tip at Linford, Thurrock Council also initially stopped the collection of brown bins, which are used to recycle garden and kitchen waste.

However, after a couple of weeks they announced that would be restored and the 16 council wards are now getting one collection a month on a planned rotational basis. That started last week with collections in the east of the borough and bin wagons will sweep across the borough from east to west.

Thurrock Nub News has asked the council what its plans are for the civic tip reopening.