Household waste recycling centres are to open to the public again from next Monday (May 11).

Three sites in Huntingdonshire, Alconbury, Bluntisham and St Neots, are among those which will receive waste again after they closed on March 24 because of coronavirus.

Cambridgeshire County Council, which owns the sites, is working with its partner Amey to come up with a way to open the dumps which is safe for both users and staff.

But the authority, which has a total of nine sites, has urged users to only go to the dumps if they cannot store waste or recycling at home without causing a risk to health or injury.

Conditions are also being put in place on users, including limiting the number of vehicles on site, restricting to two the number of adults allowed to unload any one vehicle, staff will not be able to help with unloading, and vans or trailers which need a permit will be barred.

The reopening, which will include social distancing at the sites, has been prepared with Public Health England and detailed traffic management plans have also been drawn up for each dump, with contractor Skanska and the police, to restrict the impact of traffic on the area.

Statements by Local Government Secretary Robert Jenrick at the weekend gave councils the go-ahead to plan safe openings of recycling centres as part of the easing of the coronavirus lockdown.

The county council said: “It is advised that journeys to the household recycling centres should only be undertaken if waste or recycling cannot be stored at home without causing risk of injury to health or harm.

“People who must continue to stay away from these sites are those who are, or have anyone in their household, suffering from Covid-19 symptoms, or have been diagnosed as having the virus.”

The county council is expected to provide further details of what each of its site will receive later this week.

The dumps were closed on March 24 following Government guidance on essential travel. Other authorities in the region also closed their sites, with more than 90 per cent across the country shutting their gates.