Decision details

The Committee considered the report which detailed the final proposals for future permanent Household Waste Recycling Centre (HWRC) service provision following an update of previously collated review and feasibility study information, public consultation, and the commencement of a procurement for a new operating contract provider.

The Committee was being asked to agree levels of service for the contract period of 7 years (with optional up to 3-year extension period) due to commence provisionally in September 2025 to allow continuity of service provision and to achieve best value for the Council through this procurement.

Cllr K Edwards attended to speak as a visiting member and stated that Cheshire East was operating in a difficult scenario with intense pressures on the budget. HWRC’s were a great use for waste repurposing and education. Closing 3 of 7 sites would leave a minimum provision across the borough and those in rural areas would face much longer journeys and additional pollution – none of which was mentioned in the report. Cllr Edwards asked for negotiations, to take place with Bollington Town Council who were open to ideas to find financial support to keep the site open and urged serious consideration for the recommendation to be deferred back to officers to negotiate with Bollington Town Council to ensure that one HWRC was left in the north of borough.

Cllr Sewart attended to speak as a visiting member and stated that there was a need for a site north east of the borough as the drive from Poynton to Macclesfield took 34 minutes, meaning that it would take Disley residents even longer and then there would be significant queues to get in to the Macclesfield site. Cllr Sewart said that the credibility of Cheshire East Council would be questioned, and that the decision to temporarily close the Poynton site was “double speak”. Cllr Sewart said that there would be extra costs to the council for additional material in bins and asked the committee to consider keeping, one or both, sites in the north open either fully or on a part time basis.

Cllr Marshall attended to speak as a visiting member and asked members to reject the plan to close HWRCs. Cllr Marshall said that Middlewich was a unique site as all waste comes to Middlewich to be processed as it was where the waste transfer site was located, and several residents would have to drive past this site to go to another HWRC. Cllr Marshall asked the committee to be mindful of the statistics in the report which in his view were not accurate.

Cllr Snowball attended to speak as a visiting member and stated that on 10 May 2024 Bollington Town Council received a notice to keep the HWRC open. The Town Council had already set the budget for the year, and had only 7 days for a response, however they responded and were determined to do everything reasonable within their power to keep the site open. Cllr Snowball said that she understood that savings needed to be made, and the council must meet statutory obligations. Bollington Town Council were willing to negotiate with the CEC to keep the HWRC open and asked the committee for this opportunity.

Cllr Adams provided a statement which was read out by Cllr Clowes which stated that she had received many complaints about the closure of Poynton HWRC from Disley residents, which related to the closure itself, the quality of the consultation and the lack of meaningful engagement on the proposed closure.  Cllr Adams said that Disley residents would face a 28-mile round trip, outside the WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme) recommendation of 20 minutes to the nearest site and that the many extra miles that would be driven was not ‘green’ and did not support the Council’s net zero aspirations. Cllr Adams stated that proposed mobile facilities did not meet the demand from residents and she had received complaints about being unable to book a slot during the trial which marginalised the digitally excluded. Cllr Adams said that Disley Parish Council had suggested that Cheshire East talks to Stockport MBC to agree use of the Marple HWRC which was 4 miles from Disley and had made this suggestion to Cheshire East, and it had been dismissed. Cllr Adams requested that a written response be provided to confirm the dates and details of any discussions with Stockport MBC on this matter be provided. If the proposed closures were agreed it would result in a considerable increase in fly tipping, which would lead to substantial extra costs for Cheshire East Council.

Cllr Moreton provided a statement which was read out by Cllr Jefferay which stated that he understood the Councils' financial situation but he, alongside other Congleton Councillors, had been fighting for a new recycling centre since the Congleton site was closed down. Cllr Moreton said that he would carry on this fight for the residents of Congleton as they are one of the biggest towns in the Borough and asked why Congleton was being overlooked as a site for the mobile HWRC service.

During consideration of the item, the committee resolved to move into part 2 to consider the confidential report and appendix. The committee moved back into part 1 for questions and debate.

In response to Members questions, Members were advised that if the decision was deferred, it could cause financial issues to the current procurement timeline, and that the emergency closures currently in place would produce a one off additional pro-rata saving until August 2025, which would be considered as part of the update to the MTFS. Members were advised that the new contract procurement includes the provision of ANPR, and there was a substantial “reuse” element in the specification. Members were advised that the ANSA site at Middlewich had not been designed as a household waste recycling centre, was an operational facility with a large number of HGV movements and was not suitable for the public to access. Rural areas were defined as those outside of a 20-minute drive of a HWRC, and that the mobile service would set to address areas which were outside of this boundary, along with areas which data has evidenced an elevated fly tipping incident rate. Officers advised that the council has statutory fly tipping obligations and must report in a standard way to central government and fly tipping on council-maintained land where the council has the obligation to clear land. It does not report or clean up fly tipping on private land.

In the debate the following points were raised:

-       It was acknowledged that the Council was in a difficult financial situation.

-       Nobody wanted to make cuts, but they needed to be made and, if this was not agreed, other services would have to be reduced further

-       The consultation evidenced that most residents did not use HWRCs on a frequent basis.

-       It was highlighted that there could be significant technical and local issues if Town and Parish Councils were to run the sites independently.

-       It was felt that the stated drive times were not accurate so needed to be looked at when looking at mobile recycling centres, nor were the environmental issues related to additional travel time taken into account.

-       It was stated that the data collection relating to out of borough use of Cheshire East’s HWRCs was only taken on a single day.

-       Similar decisions were being made across the country.

-       Some members felt that the savings from this proposal were insignificant in the context of the Council’s financial position, however other members felt that any saving made would contribute to reducing the risk of a S114 notice having to be issued.

-       It was felt that there were issues with the mobile service, booking system and queueing but this could be reviewed and refined

-       There were opportunities for monetising cross border tonnage coming into the borough via ANPR, although that had not been appraised in an appropriate way. Officers clarified however that we cannot charge the public for use of HWRC services, as private residents.

Some members felt that they could not support the recommendations; others felt that, while they would not wish to make this decision, they could understand the need and that difficult decisions would have to be made.

It was noted that paragraph 64 of the report outlined that in order to achieve the deadlines set out in the procurement timeline (which is a live process) such that the contract can be awarded, and business disruption avoided, it was appropriate that the decision be made urgently, and referral waived.

It was proposed and seconded a recorded vote was carried out in respect to this item, with the following results:

FOR

Councillors L Braithwaite, M Brooks, D Clark, A Farrell, D Jefferay, H Moss, H Seddon and M Warren.

AGAINST

Councillors J Clowes, T Dean, C O’ Leary, B Posnett and L Smetham.

The motion was declared carried with 8 votes for and 5 against.

RESOLVED: That the Environment and Communities Committee

1. Note the outputs of the updated independent review of current site provision and the outcomes of the recent public consultation.

2. Approve:

a. The permanent household waste recycling centre service provision for the borough, namely four sites located at Knutsford, Macclesfield, Alsager and Crewe,

b. The permanent closure of the HWRC sites at Bollington, Middlewich and Poynton, and

c. A mobile HWRC service serving rural and areas where the collected data indicates that incidents of fly tipping are at an increased level

d. Retention of a booking system to be used as described in this report.

3. Delegate authority to the Interim Director of Environment and Neighbourhoods to

a. Take all necessary steps to implement the approved permanent household waste recycling centre service provision,

b. Permanent close the HWRC sites at Bollington, Middlewich and Poynton,

c. Continue with the trial mobile household waste centre mitigation measures, until commencement of the new permanent service levels, targeted for September 2025.

d. Take all necessary steps to complete the procurement and award of a new contract to a service provider in consultation with the Director of Governance and Compliance,

e. Undertake the associated capital site improvement works, and

f. Develop and implement a robust operating process for the mobile HWRC service, as part of the future permanent provision in consultation with the Chair and Vice Chair of the Committee

Councillor J Clowes left the meeting after consideration of this item and did not return.