THURROCK'S household waste and recycling centre has been closed because of the coronavirus situation - and more changes will be made to Thurrock Council's bin collections next week.

In a series of updates announced late on Wednesday (25 March) evening the council announced changes to some services which include:

Following resident feedback some changes will be made to the way waste is collected to help ensure a regular collection can be maintained:

- The week commencing Monday 30 March will see the last brown bin collections until further notice

- During that week only general waste (black/green bins) and garden waste (brown bins) will be collected. Blue bins will not be collected that week

- Next week general waste (black/green bin) should be put out for collection on the usual day but brown bins should be put out a day early except those whose bins are collected on Monday who should put them out on the same day

- From Monday, 6 April general waste (which will include your food and small amounts of grass cuttings in the same bin) and recycling will be collected on the usual day.

Thurrock Council asks residents to put their brown bin away after it has been emptied next week until notice is given that food and garden waste collections will resume. Food and small amounts of grass cuttings can be disposed of in general waste until this time. Home composting is the best option for garden waste during this suspension period

No recycling collection will take place next week. Residents are advised to fold and flatten recycling as much as possible to ensure it will all fit in the blue bin.

The council is also asking residents to bag all used tissues before disposing of them and maintain a distance of two metres from our bin staff as they go about their work.

The Linford Household Waste and Recycling Centre will be closed until further notice as the council says social distancing cannot be safely maintained at the site. That measure is introduced just a day after the authority sent out teams of workers to plant trees and pick litter in groups - See story

The choice based lettings process is suspended from for at least three weeks.

This is to avoid disruption to households especially those self-isolating and to support the stay at home and social distancing advice from Government. It will also enable the council to prioritise support for the most vulnerable residents in the borough at this time.

New lettings in the next three weeks will only be made through direct offers, only for homeless households on a risk assessed case-by-case basis, and only for those applicants whose safety is most at risk by remaining in their current location (for example those experiencing domestic/sexual abuse).

Any tenants that had been due to move out of their properties between 23 March and 19 April will be contacted and advised that they can extend their notice period and move at a later date or withdraw their 'notice to quit' completely if they choose.

This suspension will be reviewed towards the end of the three week period where a decision will be made regarding continuing or removing the suspension in line with the latest available government guidance.

Leader of Thurrock Council, Cllr Rob Gledhill, said: "This is a fast moving situation and we are making decisions daily to ensure that we can maintain critical services for our most vulnerable residents.

"The message from the government is clear and simple: stay at home, protect the NHS and save lives. I implore everyone to follow that advice so we do all we can to slow the spread of coronavirus."

A detailed list of the bin collection collection schedule is HERE