RESIDENTS from South Staffordshire will be able to use Stourbridge’s tip – Dudley Council has announced as part of a way to bring in extra cash.

The temporary agreement will mean residents from over the border will be able to use the Birmingham Street household waste recycling centre over the next six months.

Staffordshire County Council has said it has an issue with its Wombourne site, which had to close for safety reasons after subsidence was found in early March.

It is on the site of an old quarry and investigations have revealed the subsidence occurred near what was once the quarry face.

To help out, Dudley Council has made an agreement with the neighbouring authority for up to 294 residents per week to use the tip from a set of postcodes up to November.

If there are more than the agreed 294 bookings a week, the neighbouring council will be charged for the extra use.

In addition, the council has decided to reverse a £30,000 saving agreed in the March budget which would have meant the Stourbridge tip closing for one day a week.

The Stourbridge site is currently running at 70-80 per cent capacity with slots available throughout the week.

Councillor Damian Corfield, the council’s cabinet member for highways and environment, said: “Our Stourbridge site has spare capacity and so it made sense to help out our neighbours and bring in some extra income at the same time.

“As a result, we are also in a position to reverse the one-day-a-week closure of the tip, which had been agreed in the budget to save money, which is good news for local people.

“Add to that the very popular pop-up tips that we have in Dudley and Sedgley and there is plenty of options for people to dispose of their waste. We now offer more household waste recycling facilities than any neighbouring borough, having three sites.”

Under the new deal, residents living in Wombourne North, Wombourne South, Kinver and Enville, Himley and Swindon as well as Pattingham, Trysull and Bobbington and Lower Penn will be able to make bookings at the Stourbridge tip.

The arrangement with Staffordshire County Council will be reviewed in September.