Lifford Lane tip in Kings Norton to close for two years after Perry Barr tip reopens

The tip on Lifford Lane in Kings Norton is set to close for two years so it can be demolished and rebult on the same site.

Planning permission for the development of the Veolia Household Recycling Centre was approved on Thursday (July 27) - no date has yet been given for the work to begin. But Birmingham City Council said a contingency plan is in place. It also stated that Perry Barr tip is reopening by the end of the year.

The tip in Perry Barr has been shut since July 2021. Its improvement works should have been finished by this spring, but were delayed when a contractor went bust. No reopening date was previously made available by the authority.

The nearest facility for some residents who normally use Perry Barr is the one at Tyseley. People who use the one in Kings Norton have also been advised to use that centre.

Coun Majid Mahmood, Cabinet Member for Environment at Birmingham City Council, said: “The Perry Barr site is due to reopen by the end of this year. This means we will be back to having all five of our usual sites open for business.

“A council Cabinet report of April 2023, which was ultimately approved in June 2023, made it clear that there will be mitigations in place to offset the closure of Lifford depot for this hugely important project. A contingency Household Recycling Centre will be provided during the programme of works.

“This scheme was of course subject to planning permission. Now we have secured that with an overwhelming majority from the Planning Committee, council officers will now be able to begin a programme of engagement with local elected members whose communities are served by the Lifford depot.”

Planning documents claim the new tip in Kings Norton will be able to handle 170,000 tonnes of waste per year, up almost 40,000 tonnes from its current capacity. The application for a new facility was to pre-empt any safety risks the old buildings could pose to the public and to improve capacity and efficiency, a meeting was told.

Perry Barr Recycling Centre is currently undergoing a wholesale upgrade that is set to increase capacity and offer a wider range of recycling. Initially scheduled to take around 18 months, doubts emerged in March this year when the project’s contractor, Tolent, went into administration.

Veolia Environmental Services operates five household waste and recycling centres across the city on behalf of Birmingham City Council. The firm has made Buckingham Group the project’s new contractor and said that all efforts are being made to complete the recycling centre by the end of the year.