RUBBISH tips will be told they CAN reopen but schools are set to remain closed until June at the earliest.
Tips and recycling centres will be told they can and should be open as long as safe social distancing remains in place.
The move was confirmed today in Parliament by Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick.
He said: “Our bin men and women have done a fantastic job maintaining the vast majority of collections.
“The Government published advice to councils on how to ensure the safety of refuse collections on 7th of April.
“And today I am announcing that I am asking councils to plan the organised reopening of household waste collection sites.
“I expect this to happen over the coming weeks and we will publish updated guidance shortly.”
As more people stay home, officials are said to be concerned at the amount of waste piling up.
And some councils have reported a rise in fly tipping as people dump waste on the sides of the roads and outside their homes.
Guernsey announced some easing of its lockdown restrictions but saw huge queues at green waste sites on the island yesterday, with nearly 800 visitors in a day.
They are running at reduced opening hours and subject to even more strict health and safety restrictions.
The household waste and recycling centre is due to reopen on Thursday, too, Guernsey Press reported.
On Wednesday, it was confirmed local authorities in Rochdale have agreed to reopen some of the 20 household waste recycling centres across Greater Manchester from Saturday, May 2.
The council said they should only be used by those with a genuine need to dispose of extra waste – and only bagged general waste will be accepted.
Some rubbish tips and recycling centres have closed due to the lockdown, but the Government guidance has not specified they must do.
Like parks, many local authorities have been making their own decisions on whether to stay open or shut down.
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It comes as Boris Johnson said yesterday the country was moving onto stage two of the virus – but stressed there would be no changes to lockdown rules just yet.
Ministers are set to review the official rules by May 7, and have stressed they could toughen some and relax others.
Smaller shops, garden centres and other businesses could be the first to re-open, but the PM has yet to set out a timetable for when that might happen.
Nicola Sturgeon has suggested people could be allowed to see each other in “bubbles” of friends, an idea which the UK Government is also reportedly considering.
However, schools are set to stay shut for the forseeable future, likely to be into June.
Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer for England, admitted last night that each relaxation of a lockdown rule would come at a cost – and could increase the rate of the spread.
“If you have schools open, it does contribute to increasing the R, (rate of infection)” he said last night.
“If you close schools, the R goes down, it was part of the collection of things that were done in March to try and pull the R from where it was, near three, to where it is now, below one.”
Online educational materials have been sent out to kids for the remainer of the summer term.
Exams have been cancelled, with teachers set to decide grades for their pupils in the coming weeks.
The Scottish First Minister has suggested that classrooms may need to be redesigned before they re-open, to give kids space.
And she has also said different age groups could come into school at different times, or on alternate days.
Sports such as Premier League football are likely to be allowed to resume behind closed doors in the coming weeks, as The Sun reported at the weekend.
Meanwhile, tougher restrictions are likely to be imposed on people travelling to Britain from abroad, which may also include a 14-day quarantine period for new arrivals.
Ministers and the PM – back at work this week after two weeks recovering at Chequers – are likely to discuss the plans at Cabinet tomorrow.
Scientists from SAGE will meet today and draw up a list of options to hand to them, which will discuss how each measure will affect the rate of transmission.
It will then be up to the Government to pick which ones they may change in the weeks ahead.
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We are backing a proposal by Lord Ashcroft to honour our health heroes with the gallantry gong given for acts of bravery that did not take place in battle.
A No10 spokesman said: “The NHS is doing a fantastic job and the nation will want to find a way to say thank you when we have defeated this virus.” SAS hero Andy McNab added: “The award of a George Cross would show an emotional appreciation.”
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