Cornwall Council says it will announce next week how it plans to reopen tips but they will only be allowed to be used for "essential" reasons.

The tips – Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs) – were closed due to the coronavirus crisis and concerns.

After the Government introduced restrictions on people leaving homes there was increased demand for the tips as people took the opportunity to carry out work in their gardens and DIY.

This resulted in queues of traffic leading to the HWRCs and proved difficult for staff to ensure social distancing guidelines could be followed.

Elsewhere in the country councils have started reopening tips after the Government advised that they could operate again. Centres in Devon are set to reopen next week.

Cornwall Council leader Julian German said he wanted the HWRCs to reopen but only if it was safe to do so.

He said:

"Throughout the pandemic in Cornwall we have continued to provide our kerbside waste and recycling collections. Garden waste is also collected from those residents who have subscribed to our service.

"We would like to commend the extraordinary efforts of our waste collection teams.

"In terms of household waste recycling centres, government guidance has clearly stated that only essential waste can be taken to them."

Cllr German said this was classed as waste which cannot be stored safely without causing injury or a fire risk.

He said that if the HWRCs did open there could be a "huge surge" in demand and it was important to manage this.

"Some of our HWRC sites in Cornwall are small so traffic management and enforcing social distancing is of paramount importance.

"We do want to reopen and will do so when it is reasonably safe to do so. We will release more details about our plans next week."