A HOUSEHOLD waste tip will now open seven days a week after Worcestershire councillors failed in their bid to restrict its hours.

Mercia Waste Management now intends to install "compacting" equipment to crush rubbish dumped at Bilford Road.

The firm appealed after Worcestershire County Council's planning and regulatory committee ignored officers' advice and vetoed the application.

Both the council and Mercia Waste Management were yesterday informed the inspector had ruled in favour of the waste company - which will now open on a Sunday and an extra two hours at night.

The news has outraged nearby residents who now fear an increase in noise from the compactors.

Ian Barber, marketing director with Mercia Waste Management's sister firm Severn Waste Services, was not surprised by the inspector's findings.

"We now have permission to open seven days a week and to introduce compactors, which will crush the waste into a 'box'," he said.

Mr Barber said this would boost efficiency, as three times as much waste could be packed into storage containers at Bilford Road. He said the compactors would grind the material "periodically".

Mr Barber said the company was committed to staying at the site so people in eastern Worcester had somewhere to discard their rubbish.

Livingston Avenue resident Ronald Lock, who took part in protests at the reclamation site when the inspector toured it, was dismayed by the appeal decision.

"This is terrible news," said Mr Lock.

"They say the noise from the compactors won't be bad, but the equipment's coming from Spain so no one here knows. I think it will be noisy."

He feared increased traffic congestion too.

"There was even a minor collision when the inspector was here, but he's from Bristol, so he won't have to put up with the problems we'll face," added Mr Lock.

But the chairman of the planning and regulatory committee, Derek Prodger, was "devastated".

"We took the right decision, following a democratic debate," he said.

"The people near the household waste site have had their quality of life eroded. We didn't think Bilford Road was the right place to have a site at all, when industrial land is available."