FLY-tipping will increase following changes to the rules at Rayleigh recycling centre, residents have warned. 

On Monday it was announced that from June 6 the recycling centre will be restricted to pre-booked appointments only.

People will no longer be able to just turn up to the recycling centre in Castle Road without booking a specific time slot.

Residents are now concerned this change will only encourage more people to fly-tip.

Stephen Palmer, 61, from Rochford, said that from his own experience most people don’t plan in advance a trip to the tip.

He said: “The Rayleigh tip location is less than ideal, and with limited access it causes regular congestion.

“But the solution of Essex Council to introduce online booking slots will seem to make the process of dropping off bulk items even harder than it needs to be.

“From my own experience most people don’t plan in advance when they need to dispose of bulk items.

“Any schemes that make the job more difficult will encourage some people to fly-tip or dispose of items in an inappropriate way.

“This will result in additional costs to the council or in a lot of cases unfortunate landowners too.”

The changes were made by Essex County Council, and not by Rochford District Council.

Bosses hope the changes will help improve the service and reduce queuing at peak times.

Guy Grimwade, who has previously used the recycling centre, added: “I just wonder how many people will bother booking.

“They’ll go to the tip and find out they can’t get in. They are not likely to then take their rubbish home and book a slot, are they?

“Some may but not everyone sadly, and so people will fly-tip. There is enough fly-tipping already without even more.”

On the Echo Facebook page, more residents continued to comment about their own concerns about the move.

Philip Carrington wrote that the changes are making it harder to dispose waste in a correct way.

He said: “More fly-tipping I fear, as it becomes more difficult to dispose of waste in a responsible way.

“The issue is the site is not fit for purpose and hasn’t been for many years since over-development of the local area.”