In accordance with paragraph 1.32 of the Council Procedure Rules and Appendix 7 to the rules, a total period of 15 minutes is allocated for members of the public to speak at Council meetings. Individual members of the public may speak for up to 2 minutes, but the Chairman will have discretion to vary this requirement where they consider it appropriate.
Members of the public wishing to ask a question or make a statement at the meeting should provide at least three clear working days’ notice in writing and should include the question with that notice. This will enable an informed answer to be given.
Minutes:
Jane Smith referred to planning application 20/2540C and asked why the Council had given permission for the removal of the 10 metres of hedgerow for temporary vehicular access in spite of Alsager Town Council’s concerns, which were backed up by policies in their recently adopted Neighbourhood Plan. The Portfolio Holder for Planning responded that Local Plan Policy PG6 – Open Countryside allowed for the development of public infrastructure and essential work to be undertaken by public service or authorities or statutory undertakers and the application related to the upgrading of a water treatment plant and was therefore acceptable in principle. Policy NBE4 of Alsager Neighbourhood Plan stated that, if because of development, trees and hedgerows were lost they should be replaced by native species and this had been secured by a condition of approval of the application.
Sue Helliwell referred to the Brighter Future Together Programme and stated that it appeared from details within the budget that there were going to be cuts or savings to the Programme and made reference to member behaviours. Sue Helliwell asked how the Council could ensure that the culture of the council kept on improving if cuts were to be made to the Brighter Future Programme. In response the Portfolio Holder for Public Health and Corporate Services stated that the Council’s Brighter Future workstream was much wider than the cultural workstream and include four other areas of transformation and that there were no savings proposals in the MTFS relating to the cultural work.
Paul Duffy spoke in relation to the proposal to close the Congleton Recycling Centre with no option for a replacement and asked if the submitted petition and calculations for extra C02 were taken into consideration in deciding to close the recycling centre in Congleton and how did closing a recycling centre fit in with the Climate emergency declared by Cheshire East back in 2019. The Portfolio Holder for Highways and Waste confirmed that the consultation responses and petition were taken into consideration and emphasised that a decision had not yet been made, and the matter would go back to the scrutiny committee before a decision was made by Cabinet.
Congleton Town Councillor Robert Douglas referred to the proposal for the closure of the Congleton Recycling Centre, making reference to damage it would cause to the environment, and stated that it was unthinkable that a town the size of Congleton would not have its own recycling site. He asked how many alternative sites Cheshire East had seriously considered to replace the existing site and what was their approximate acreage and distance from the centre of Congleton. In response the Portfolio Holder for Highways and Waste stated that the decision had not been taken to close the site and the matter would go back to the scrutiny committee before going to Cabinet for decision and asked that people put forward any suggestion were cuts could be made in other services to enable a site to be built in Congleton which they would consider.