CHESHIRE West and Chester Council is extending the opening hours of its rubbish tips in Chester and Ellesmere Port from tomorrow (March 12).

The Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs), which are currently open to the public for essential journeys only, will be open for an extra two hours.

It means the opening hours will now be 8am until 6pm, seven days a week.

The extended hours were due to come into force from April 1, but have been brought in early due to an increase in the number of visitors to the sites.

Councillor Karen Shore, deputy leader and cabinet member for environment, highways and strategic transport, said: “The current opening times are due to change from 1 April; however, due to the increased number of visitors using the HWRC we are extending the opening hours at our larger key sites at Winsford, Ellesmere Port and Chester recycling centre by two hours to 6pm and Northwich by one hour to 5pm.

“I’d like to thank residents again for thinking twice about their journey and everyone who has visited our HWRCs for following the social distancing rules and guidance from our staff. Safety remains a key priority and following social distancing guidance is essential.”

Due to the volume of cars queuing to use the sites, visitors may be turned away before the closing time to allow those already on the sites to dispose of their waste safely before it closes.

Road signs have been placed outside both the Chester and Ellesmere Port recycling centres to show the 30 minutes and one-hour waiting points.

The opening hours for the rubbish tips in Frodsham and Neston remain between 8am-4pm. The Frodsham site is open daily, except for Wednesday and Thursday, while Neston is closed on Tuesday and Wednesday.

From April 1, the opening hours will change to 9am until 5pm with the sites remaining closed on the same days.