URGENT calls are being made to find a temporary tip site for Portishead - after news the current facility is to close until August. Councillors claim Portishead and the surrounding villages risk disappearing under a mountain of rubbish unless the service

URGENT calls are being made to find a temporary tip site for Portishead - after news the current facility is to close until August.Councillors claim Portishead and the surrounding villages risk disappearing under a mountain of rubbish unless the services provided by the current civic amenity site at Black Rock Quarry are replaced elsewhere in the town.North Somerset Council closed the tip last week following police concerns about road safety.The authority had already partially closed off the site following concerns about the stability of the rockface.But the partial closure led to traffic chaos as hundreds of people tried to use the facility, causing long queues along Valley Road.Now people are being urged to use the kerbside collection service for their green waste or use alternative recycling centres in Weston-super-Mare and Backwell.Councillor Glyn Duck said: "North Somerset Council needs to urgently find another site within Portishead where a tip facility could be temporarily opened."To close the Black Rock Quarry civic amenity site for four months is just unacceptable."People from Portishead and the surrounding towns and villages rely on this service and if no alternative is provided, it is possible the whole area will become a sea of rubbish."Residents from Portishead are unlikely to travel to Weston-super-Mare to use the rubbish and recycling services."At the very least, if another temporary site cannot be found, the hours need to be extended at our other amenity sites in the district to cope with the extra demand."Work on stabilising the rockface is being delayed because of peregrine falcons nesting on it.North Somerset Council has appointed a geotechnical engineer and a blueprint is currently being drawn up for the anchoring, cabling and meshing of the rockface.North Somerset Council spokesman Zoe Briffitt said: " We cannot set up a temporary amenity site as we need planning permission and a waste management licence which takes months to obtain."We are urging residents to make the most of the kerbside recycling collection and, if they need to remove big items, use our bulky waste collection service for which there is a charge."We also want people to think about whether they actually need to throw items away or whether they can recycle or reuse them."Alternatively they can use the civic amenity sites in Weston-super-Mare or Backwell.