Council votes to close tips permanently

Above: Residents protest at the impending closure of their waste recycling tips (ⓒBelinda Ryan, LDRS)

It will come as no surprise to learn that Cheshire East Councillors have voted to close Bollington, Poynton and Middlewich waste recycling tips.

The Council had gone through its usual ‘consultation’ and ‘review’ – but writing had always been on the wall – there’s no cash in the till – so they had to close.

The Council’s financial problems appear to be increasing daily, the latest is it’s facing a £27m overspend at the end of this year – and needs to save at least £100m over the next four-year period.

Despite being presented with a petition, signed by more than 7,000 people, members of the Environment and Communities Committee voted by eight to five to make the temporary closures permanent.

Sutton Conservative councillor Chris O’Leary said: “We’re told that there is only one option that we can agree to, because that’s the only one that is affordable.”

He went on to say that the committee had not been provided with the proper data nor had councillors been shown the consequences of the closure of Congleton tip in 2021 – furthermore, there there was no evaluation relating to the mobile service set up when the three tips were temporarily closed.

Cllr O’Leary also said there had also been no environmental assessment of the impact of the closure of the three tips.

“We’re talking about requiring residents in Poynton and Disley to travel at least 30 minutes each way to get to the Macclesfield recycling site,” and there was nothing in the report about the environmental impact of the additional CO2 ‘let alone the environmental impact of fly-tipping’.

Knutsford Conservative councillor Tony Dean said the savings this would make were ‘a tiny pimple on the face of the problem’.

“This will do nothing to stop us hitting S114“.

“It’s not going to help at all and it’s such a painful thing to do for our residents.”

Conservative Cllr Janet Clowes stated that she remained unassured by the proposals for the mobile tip facility – one of her residents had even claimed it had been a ‘disaster’.

Five Conservative councillors voted against the closures.

After the meeting, campaigner and Bollington Councillor John Stewart said he was “absolutely disgusted” by the decision.

“It’s really disappointing they can’t see the damage it’s going to cause,” he said.

Prepare yourselves for more and more cuts to council services.