Felixstowe's nearest civic tip at Carr Road could soon be reopened if Suffolk council responds to a call by the government's communities secretary Robert Jenrick.

The recycling centre was one of the first services to be shut down by the council in March - and prompted criticism of the authority with residents fearing it would lead to a spate of fly-tipping.

Yesterday (Tuesday, April 28) Mr Jenrick said he had written to councils telling them to plan to reopen tips and recycling centres.

"Our bin men and women have done a fantastic job maintaining the vast majority of collections," Mr Jenrick told the Commons.

"I'm asking councils to plan the organised re-opening of household waste collection sites. I expect this to happen over the coming weeks and will be publishing amended guidance shortly."

Residents have reported some increase in local fly-tipping in the area.

The local councils association has said: "The government has now indicated that they want councils to re-open their centres and local authorities have already begun preparations to do just that in the coming weeks.

"This will not be without its challenges – requiring social distancing measures, traffic management and co-ordination across the country.

"Most importantly, there needs to be clear guidance to both the police and the public as to what constitutes an essential journey to a household waste recycling centre during lockdown."

Paul West, Suffolk County councillor responsible for waste services, said:

"It is something we are working on. Robert Jenrick has indicated he was writing some guidance to allow recycling centres to reopen. We will see what that guidance says and we will work on a plan in response to that sometime in May.

"Fly-tipping is always a problem and it is always too high, however reported incident in Suffolk are pretty stable, compared to the same time this year."