Council encourages residents to recycle right

Through its shared waste service with Tamworth Borough Council, Lichfield District Council is once again urging its residents to ‘recycle right’ and waste less.

After a recent increase in loads being rejected by the recycling centre, the council is reminding householders across the district to follow its advice about what can and can’t go in blue bins.

To support this, the council will be putting stickers on blue bins to outline the materials that can be recycled and to ask residents not to bag up recycling.

In the past the council has accepted recycling in clear bags, but from now on the council will not collect any bagged up waste in blue bins. This is because it has been finding too much contaminated waste in bags once opened.

The stickers also remind households that only the following items can go in blue bins:

·         Paper, including newspaper, writing paper, envelopes and magazines

·         Cardboard

·         Plastic bottles, tubs and trays

·         Glass jars and bottles

·         Cans and tins

·         Aerosols

They also remind residents that recycling crews will continue to check blue bins, and cannot empty them if they contain materials that cannot be recycled or any bagged waste.

Councillor Richard Cox, Cabinet Member for Leisure, Parks & Waste, said: “We’re asking everyone to be extra careful about what they put in their recycling bins and not to bag up their blue bin waste.

“Our high recycling rates reflect residents’ hard work sorting their rubbish, but recently we’ve had a number of loads rejected by the recycling centre.

“The environmental impact of one contaminated bin can be huge, as it can cause an entire truckload to be rejected, meaning it all ends up in landfill or being incinerated. It’s also expensive - if the recent pattern continues it could cost us around £250,000 extra a year.

“Most residents are great at recycling, remembering to rinse out food and drink containers and not to bag up recycling. If you do want to use a bin liner in the home, simply tip out the recycling into your blue bin and re-use the bag.

“I hope we can bring our recycling efforts back up to previous standards. It will help our waste and recycling crews, save resources, and help the environment.”

To check what can and can’t go in your blue bin, go to www.lichfielddc.gov.uk/bluebins.

Re-opening of the Playground and Fitness Equipment

The playground and fitness equipment will be open from the morning of Saturday 4^th July.

The Parish Council are pleased that local children will be able to use this again, but please do so sensibly and continue to follow government guidelines.

To help everyone stay safe:

Parents must supervise their children, please don’t let them play on their own.

No more than 6 people should use the play area at a time, so if others are waiting don’t stay too long. Remember social distancing, stay at least a metre from other people who are not from your household.

Please wash your hands before and after visiting, take sanitiser or wipes to clean handles and other places you touch - but then put them in the bin. We are unable to clean the equipment regularly so it is up to you to keep safe.

The play equipment has been checked and painted ready for use, please keep our playground tidy and keep everyone safe! If there are any problems we may have to close it again.

To all Residents,

Following some very constructive conversations between the Parish Council and Will Bridgen, the plan for spreading fertiliser on the land surrounding Elford village is as follows:

Points to consider as residents:

• Spreading of fertiliser is only 4 weeks out of a 52 week year (less than 10% of the year)
• Spreading is only within the months of March, April, May and September or October, subject to some flexibility regarding weather conditions and crop requirements
• Spreading is normally only 5 days at a time.

Additional compromises by the Bridgen family:

• Spreading will now cease 2 days prior to any bank holiday
• Where possible spreading will only be during week days, minimising the effect of the smell on residents during any weekend
• As before Will Bridgen will post on the Elford News Facebook page in advance of when spreading will commence

Should residents have any further questions or issues with the plan, please can they contact the Parish Council via clerk@elfordparish.co.uk

The Parish Council would also like to thank the Bridgen family for their help during the recent floods in the village when they helped by providing and operating their own irrigation pump which pumped water closer to the pumping station when it was impeded by blocked flow in the culvert and blocked gullies. This extra pumping capacity made all the difference during the flood events of November 2019 and February 2020 until the Environment Agency were able to operate the pumping station effectively.

We as the Parish Council thanks Will, Ben and the Bridgen family for their help to the community during the floods.

The Bridgen family have also indicated that they are willing to help with providing parking for the Scarecrow Festival 2021 and the Parish Council are grateful for this offer.

The Parish Council has now shelved this proposal.  The bus company and School Transport team had safety concerns and it would have been too near to parked vehicles. It has been decided that there is no suitable alternative site for a shelter for school pupils waiting for their coach. There is a possibility that it may be possible to locate it as a seat elsewhere in the village, and local organisations will be approached to see if they would like to have it.

Staffordshire's recycling centres are now open for essential vsits only. For details of opening hours etc please see:

https://www.staffordshire.gov.uk/Waste-and-recycling/recyclingcentres/Re-opening-Staffordshires-waste-recycling-centres.aspx?

Park for £1 at Lichfield city centre car parks from Monday

Lichfield District Council is launching a special offer across its Lichfield city car parks, and from Monday 6 July it will only cost £1 to park all day, any day of the week in council-run city centre car parks. 

The special offer, which is running from 6 July through August 2020, will apply to most district council managed car parks in Lichfield city centre, including short and long-stay facilities.

However, there are some exceptions to the £1 offer. Due to the operating arrangement covering Backcester Lane and Gresley Row car parks, the special offer won’t be available at these car parks.

Arrangements will also be slightly different for the car parks that serve Beacon Park on Shaw Lane, Greenhough Road and Bunkers Hill. These three car parks are charged at a different, lower rate. So, customers can choose to pay the minimum 50p for a shorter period or pay the £1 rate for the full day.

Councillor Liz Little, Cabinet Member for Major Projects & Economic Development, said:“We’re really pleased to be introducing the £1 parking offer across our car parks, to support the city centre in these challenging times.

“We are encouraging all our residents to #LoveLocal and visit their high streets, while following social distancing rules, and we hope this special offer will also help boost footfall to our city centre.”   

The council is working with its partners at Pay by Phone to update the system to reflect the new £1 charge. In the meantime, customers should select the car park code 59562 (normally for Bird Street only), and pay the minimum £1 amount which will be honoured for the full day.

So as not to disadvantage anyone who has already bought a parking season ticket, all permits already in circulation as of 6 July 2020 will automatically roll over for a free extra month after the expiry date.

The £1 parking special offer means the council’s free car parking for NHS, health care staff and key workers, which has been running since lockdown began in March, will come to an end after Sunday 5 July. However, everyone will be able to benefit from the £1 parking all day across the city from Monday.

For more information, visit www.lichfielddc.gov.uk/parkingoffer

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