The go-ahead has been given for two Norfolk tips to be shut and replaced with new recycling centres nearby.

Sheringham Recycling Centre and Wymondham Recycling Centre have been earmarked for closure by Norfolk County Council, after a strategic review of facilities by County Hall officers.

They said those sites, in Holt Road, East Beckham and Strayground Lane in Wymondham, are operating close to full capacity.

Officers said those sites will not be able to cope with demands created by future housing growth, so new ones - at a cost of £1.65m and £2.2m - are needed.

At a meeting of the Conservative-controlled council cabinet on Monday (January 31), councillors agreed to declare the current sites surplus to requirements.

And they agreed the council should enter into leases on land at Holt Road in Beeston Regis and at Spooner Row in Wymondham as sites for new recycling centres.

Greg Peck, the council's cabinet member for commercial services and asset management, said the council would get capital receipts and make savings from selling the existing sites.

He said there would be "significant operational benefits" from the new sites.

Andy Grant, cabinet member for environment and waste, welcomed the move and said it would improve safety by stopping cars queuing on roads.

He said: "Wymondham holds six cars and Sheringham about eight and when they do the bin change, you can often have in excess of 20 cars waiting along the road to get into the centres.

"It will be an opportunity to increase our recycling at both of them."

Officers said renting the Beeston Regis land would cost an initial £20,000 a year for 25 years, while the Spooner Row rent would start at £30,000 a year.

In the case of the Spooner Row site, there is what County Hall officers describe as a "substantial soil heap" at the location, which will cost £350,000 to clear.

Consultation, the planning permission process and construction means it is likely to be two years before the new recycling centres are open.

Norfolk County Council recently spent £2.75m on a new Norwich North recycling centre near the Northern Distributor Road and £1.9m to build the new Norwich South tip at Harford Park and Ride.