Does anyone at Cheshire East have a clue?

Or, does anyone at Cheshire East know their ar** from their elbow?

Councillor Chris O’Leary has branded the current Cheshire East consultation on the future provision of the borough’s tips ‘a joke’

The Conservative councillor for Sutton claims not a single one of the several options presented to the public by the council have even been costed.

He questioned how the council could make its projected saving of £263,000, (included in the 2024/25 budget) by the emergency temporary closure of the Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRC) at Bollington, Poynton and Middlewich.

Cllr O’Leary stated: “None of the options have been costed, so the council has no idea whether any of this is affordable, or would be within the budget already agreed for recycling centres.”

“The options presented make little sense – options to close Bollington or Poynton, and then another option to close both and Middlewich. Several of the questions are so poorly written as to be meaningless.”

He was also highly critical of the proposed emergency temporary closures at Bollington, Middlewich and Poynton.

“These emergency closures had been agreed to in February at full council as part of the budget – three months before this month’s consultation on the future of all seven of the borough’s tips had been launched. To make that £263,000 saving it was indicated in the budget the three tips would have to close from April 1, 2024, for a period of 12 months.”

Despite this not yet happening, last week the council said the emergency closure is ‘currently targeted to take place in the next two months’.

Cllr O’Leary went on to berate the council’s incompetence over the temporary closures.

“These were first proposed last autumn, yet the council gave little thought as to how this would work . . . so, even before the new financial year had started, £263,000 of savings agreed only in February are now at risk . . . making a s114 notice – where the council does not have enough money to cover its costs – even more likely.”

Through what can only be described as total incompetence and financial profligacy Cheshire East is currently facing a £100m funding gap for the next four years.

 The ridiculed consultation document seeks views on the following options:

• All seven HWRCs remain open as they are now;
• Poynton HWRC is closed;
• Bollington HWRC is closed;
• Bollington, Middlewich and Poynton HWRCs are closed.

Confusingly, despite the options currently under consideration, the council is also seeking feedback on the introduction of mobile HWRCs – utilising staff and  collection vehicles that visit public spaces once a month.

Considering their track record, unbelievably, the council is also suggesting introducing a booking system – to manage waiting times and the flow of traffic into the collection sites.

Ilovemacc would suggest that ‘p-up’ and ‘brewery’ are the words that spring to mind.

Councillor Mick Warren, Deputy Leader of the Independent Group and Chair of Environment and Communities Committee, said last week: “A key aspect of the final recommendation that is developed for HWRCs will be a focus on delivering a service that promotes waste prevention and reduction so that, ultimately, less waste ends up at our HWRCs and the impact on the environment is reduced.

“We also have the opportunity to look at how we can make the service more accessible for people who don’t drive and for those that live in more rural areas where they are further away from a HWRC.”

ilovemacc has previously posed the question “does anyone at Cheshire East know what they’re doing?”

It would appear that Cllr O’Leary is on his own in this regard.