THE QUEUES seen at Basingstoke's Household Waste Recycling Centre (HWRC) were a "shambles" according to one councillor.

Hundreds of vehicles were seen queuing up along Wade Road before the tip reopened for the first time in seven weeks this morning, with it taking around two hours to take the quarter of a mile journey from Daneshill Roundabout to the site.

Cars, vans, lorries and buses were also backed up along Gresley Road and Faraday Road.

The leader of Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council, Cllr Ken Rhatigan (Conservative, Kingsclere), has said that it is "right" for HWRCs to reopen.

"We have advised people to think about when they need to go," he said.

"If they can safely store the stuff for another day they need to.

"I understand people's wish to get rid of things, but they have to realise that there are thousands of people in that situation."

He added that "people need to make best use of their time", and that some of the people in the queue may have had little choice if they were going back to work on Wednesday.

But the scenes were slammed by one councillor, who said that Hampshire County Council could have organised the reopening better.

"It was like when KFC opened," Cllr Stephanie Grant (Labour, Buckskin) told the Gazette. "No-one thought 'I will let it calm down a bit'. It was a bit of a shambles.

"I think the problem was that when they were talking about opening, it was just for essential things. I don't think sheds were on the list of urgent needs.

"You open something and everyone heads there straight away. None of us like traffic jams, why would we choose to sit in one?"

However, Cllr Grant said that HCC could have brought in an appointment system to allow for the traffic to be spread out over a number of hours.

But for Cllr Jack Cousens (Basingstoke and Deane Independents, Brookvale and Kings Furlong), he could see both sides of the argument.

"It is somewhat similar to a traditional bank holiday weekend, but the difference is that the thing has been closed for eight weeks, the council have moved to alternate [waste] collections and we have had the suspension of garden waste collections and bulky waste.

"It has created the perfect storm."

Cllr Cousens said it would be "interesting" if data was available on what exactly was being taken - which would allow for an insight on what the borough council should prioritise when restoring waste collection services.

As previously reported, both garden and bulky waste collections were suspended and grey bin collections reduced to fortnightly.

All 24 HCC-run tips, including those in Southampton and Portsmouth, were reopened this morning. The council advised that people should only travel if the build up of rubbish posed a risk of injury or to health.

A number of measures have been put in place to allow for social distancing at tips.