Restrictions at Sidmouth Recycling Centre are to be eased further this week, with personal vans allowed to bring household waste from today (June 24).

Van owners will, however, need to pre-book their visit at three of the county's busiest sites.

To ensure the recycling centres have enough capacity to serve as many people as possible, and to keep unloading times to a minimum, vans will only be able to bring the same amount of waste that would fit in a normal sized family car or trailer.

For example, standard vans such as a Ford Transits, VW Transporters or Vauxhall Vivaros should be no more than a third full. Very large vans such as a Mercedes Sprinters should be no more than a quarter full. Vans coming to sites with more than this amount of waste will be turned away.

Vans will also need to be less than 6 metres long and less than 3.5 tonnes gross weight. Box vans, Luton vans, horsebox vans and vans towing trailers are not permitted, as standard.

The easing of restrictions applies across all but two of the Council's Household Waste Recycling Centres.

However, in order to manage demand and keep queues to a manageable level at the county's three busiest sites, timeslots will need to be booked online. These include Exton Road (Exeter), Pinbrook Road (Exeter) and Brunel Road (Newton Abbot).

Household waste recycling centre facilities are only available to householders delivering their own household waste. Waste from business and trade is not permitted – this includes landlords with waste from properties or holiday lets and 'man with van' type house clearance and waste removal businesses.

To protect the public and staff a series of health protection measures will continue to be in force, including social distancing guidelines. Staff will not be able to assist with unloading waste and all payments on site must be by credit/debit card only.

With the reduced capacity and people having to unload all their waste themselves, visits are taking longer, and delays are likely. If queues become too long and cause a risk to other road users, people will be asked to return later.

Residents displaying coronavirus symptoms are asked not to visit the recycling centres.

Councillor Andrea Davis, the Council's Cabinet Member with responsibility for Devon's recycling centres, said:

"We really appreciate everyone's patience as we work to gradually reopen our household waste recycling centres safely.

"All our sites continue to be very busy, and social distancing means the number of vehicles safely allowed inside is reduced, so queues form quickly.

"With demand high, we need to make sure as many residents can use our sites as safely as possible. Large vans full of waste can take significant time to unload and increase queuing times to the detriment of others, which is why we are adopting a 'fair use' system asking household van owners to fill their vans only to levels equivalent to a normal sized family car or trailer, and to book slots at our busiest sites."