Increased traffic, energy waste, air pollution and fly tipping

Cheshire East claims talks were held with neighbouring councils, regarding cross-border use of household waste sites, before closing three tips.

The council closed its tips at Bollington, Poynton and Middlewich in August – on a ‘temporary’ basis, ahead of its review of waste and recycling sites.

In September the council said the temporary closure would be permanent – and the three sites wouldn’t re-open.

Bollington residents now have to travel to Macclesfield. The closest recycling site to Poynton is Stockport but this isn’t owned by Cheshire East Council, so Poynton residents have to travel to Macclesfield and Middlewich residents  have to travel to Crewe.

And, the extra travel involved is having a huge impact on traffic, energy waste, air pollution and fly tipping.

At last week’s meeting of the full council, Knutsford councillor Tony Dean (Con) asked: “To what extent were potential cross-boundary drawbacks and beneficial reciprocal arrangements discussed with Cheshire West and Chester, Stockport and Staffordshire councils to a: improve resident cross boundary access to HWRCs and b: reduce any potential impact of rising cross boundary fly-tipping on private as well as public land going forward, and most importantly, provide mutually beneficial cost savings?”

Cllr Mick Warren (Macclesfield, Ind), who chairs the environment and communities committee, was unable to answer.

He has since issued a response stating: “Informal officer dialogue was undertaken around the potential for cross boundary sharing of HWRC sites, however it became clear that the operational, contractual and practical constraints associated and therefore viability of delivering such an arrangement was very unlikely.”

He added: “It is considered by officers that even if a cross-border HWRC service arrangement could have been established, the additional administration due to the ongoing need to manage multiple services under different contracts, would have substantially or wholly negated any real cost savings for the waste disposal authorities involved.”

With regard to Cllr’s Dean reference to fly-tipping, Cllr Warren said: “There is no long-term direct correlation between the number of recorded fly-tipping incidents and the proximity of a nearby HWRC.

“Fly-tipping incident levels will continue to be monitored, reported and dealt with in the established way, to understand the immediate and long-term effects of these now confirmed closures.”