Cash-strapped Cheshire East Council looks set to permanently close three tips at Middlewich, Bollington and Poynton – despite overwhelming opposition in a public consultation.
A report to the council’s environment committee simply “notes” the consultation outcome but still recommends councillors “approve permanent closure of the HWRC sites at Bollington, Middlewich and Poynton”.
The council consulted on four options:
A – Leave the Household Waste Recycling Centre provision as it is
B – Close Poynton HWRC
C – Close Bollington HWRC
D – Close Bollington, Middlewich and Poynton HWRCs
A sub option of D was proposed which replaced the existing Alsager site with a new site located provisionally in Congleton.
The proposals come as Cheshire East needs to slash spending by £100 million over the next four years.
A report to the environment and communities committee states: “Option A was the most preferred option; with option D as the least preferred option.”
Councillors are also asked to approve keeping open sites at Alsager, Crewe, Knutsford, and Macclesfield.
And to approve a mobile HWRC service serving rural and areas “where the collected data indicates that incidents of fly tipping are at an increased level”.
Extended weekday opening hours across summer months would also be retained, as would a booking system for visiting HWRCs at peak times – during weekends and Bank Holidays – to encourage greater use of the sites during weekdays and later in the day.
The tips at Middlewich, Bollington and Poynton have been “temporarily” closed since the beginning of August.
The report says relevant town councils were approached about funding the services but “due to the scale of the costs quoted none of the organisations felt it appropriate to fund ongoing service provision directly”.
In a statement released by the council, Cllr Mick Warren (pictured), chair of the environment and communities committee, said: “While we understand that the option of reducing HWRCs was not supported through feedback from the consultation, keeping services as they are now is simply not affordable.”
He said each of the seven tips needs investment and that would cost more than £1.2m.
Cllr Warren added: “If implemented, the option we are recommending focuses our limited resources on the sites that receive the highest use, while also ensuring that the vast majority of our residents are still within a 20-minute drive time of a HWRC, which meets national statutory guidance.
“Our proposals will also ensure that residents living in more rural areas can also access an adequate level of service through the mobile HWRC.
“We are proposing to expand the mobile service to cover eight areas where residents are not within a 20-minute drive time of a HWRC site, or to areas where data indicates that incidents of fly tipping are at an increased level.”
If the recommendations are approved next week, the changes are expected to go live from September 1 next year, once a new contract for the provision of HWRCs is in place, with the emergency arrangements for HWRCs that are currently in place continuing until then.
The environment and communities committee at its meeting next week, which starts at 10am on Thursday, September 26 at the Westfields offices in Sandbach.
(Story by local democracy reporter Belinda Ryan)
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