Bosses at an island tip have said it staff will be checking IDs at the facility going forward.
The move is to ensure that only residents within the Western Civic Amenity Site’s (WCAS) catchment area are using the service.
The WCAS is funded by the local authorities within the parishes of Marown, Patrick, German, Michael and Peel.
Only residents living in these areas are therefore permitted to use the site.
A civic amenity site, similar to a household waste recycling centre, is a facility where the public can dispose of and recycle household waste.
There are four such sites located on the Isle of Man - northern, southern, western and eastern.
In an online statement issued on Tuesday morning, WCAS bosses say they will now be undertaking random ID and home address checks on anyone visiting the facility.
The announcement is the latest set of restrictions to hit some the Isle of Man’s tips - changes which were seemingly triggered by one local authority’s withdrawal from a tip in the north. Back in April, Bride Commissioners announced it was no longer ‘using, paying or working’ with the Northern Civic Amenity Site (NCAS) and left the committee that runs the facility.
The site is operated by Ramsey Commissioners and the cost of using the site for the local authorities is based on the rateable value of the area – which Bride were ‘unhappy’ with.
Bride’s withdrawal from the scheme led the remaining members of the NCAS joint committee to bring-in ID restrictions at the site.
In the wake of that announcement, the board that runs the Western Civic Amenity Site (WCAS) in St John’s said that it would not be allowing people outside the western catchment area to use its facilities to ‘protect’ its residents.
And now it’s asking users to bring suitable photo ID and proof of address due to ‘issues at other sites’ It’s emphasised that the move is to protect the interests of the residents in the western catchment area.
Questioned about the new ID restrictions, a spokesperson for the WCAS said that it currently costs £113 per tonne to dispose of waste at the energy for waste (EFW) plant as well as VAT and transport cost.
These costs must ultimately be paid for by the western area rate payers, the spokesperson for the WCAS.
Meanwhile, Bride Commissioners has confirmed that it will be using the money it has saved from pulling out of the NCAS to pay for general maintenance within the parish as well as to buy new equipment for the local sports field.