Cheshire East accused of waste in their war on waste

Cheshire East has spent £2.4m buying a Middlewich site to use as a waste facility – without first getting planning permission.

It would appear that the expensive lessons of Lyme Green – where Cheshire East starting building a waste transfer station on the Macclesfield site without first obtaining planning permission from itself – have not been learned.

UKIP Councillor Brian Silvester said: “After the Lyme Green disaster it is beyond belief that Cheshire East Council have purchased another alternative site, even before they have submitted a planning application. Surely the sensible way forward would have been to make an offer on the site subject to planning permission.

“There is no guarantee that the site will gain planning permission and, if it doesn’t, then there will be further enormous losses to the council taxpayers and the never ending search for a suitable waste facility for the borough would have been further delayed.”

He said he had written to chief executive Mike Suarez asking for an explanation adding: “There are already over 500 residents in Middlewich who have signed a petition against the proposed waste facility and that is even before the application is submitted.

“Cheshire East Council should have been aware of the strong local opposition to this proposal before they went ahead and purchased the site. If they go ahead with the application they will have a big battle with a large group of very determined residents who are determined to stop it.”

Cheshire East announced last month that it was selling off the current waste site at Pyms Lane in Crewe to Bentley so the luxury car manufacturer could expand and create more jobs.

Cheshire East leader Michael Jones immediately accused the Willaston and Rope councillor of ‘political mud-slinging’, and said the former Ideal Standard site on Cledford Lane is suited for a waste transfer station.

The council said, at the time, the Pyms Lane site is not suitable to effectively manage the authority’s waste for the next 30 years.

It said moving to one suitable bespoke site will also bring new employment opportunities as well as helping the council meet its waste recycling rates and carbon reduction plans.

But one Crewe resident has contacted the Chronicle to say he believes closing Pyms Lane will lead to an increase in fly-tipping in Crewe.

Cllr Jones told the Chronicle this week the Middlewich site was ideal and the council needed to centralise its waste operation.

He said Lyme Green was an entirely different situation because building work had begun without planning permission on that occasion, adding: “This is Cllr Silvester slinging mud.”

“The pre-application discussions [for the Middlewich site] will begin and there will be full public consultation,” said Cllr Jones.

“I lead this council and, under my leadership, things will be done according to the law.”

He added: “I’m bringing thousands of jobs into the borough. Selling Pyms Lane to Bentley is part of that process.”