Esther writes in this week's Knutsford Guardian:
The latest debacle in Cheshire East’s mismanagement involves closing recycling centres – you couldn’t make this rubbish up!
This is the council that claims it wants to encourage more people to recycle. However, its policies and proposals to date are a far cry from that.
It now wants to close three of the seven household, waste, and recycling centres (HWRCs) across the area.
A consultation is currently underway which could see Bollington, Middlewich, and Poynton sites closed. Our Knutsford site has escaped the cull – but I never take anything for granted where this council is concerned and therefore have submitted my opposition both as part of the consultation and have also written to them setting out my objections.
I hope others will do the same. Just a couple of months ago we succeeded in keeping Knutsford Leisure Centre open – a real testament to people power. The council wanted to close the much-loved facility but we fought against it and won. I hope we can support our fellow Cheshire residents in this latest fight.
The consultation sets out four options and what it believes to be the pros and cons of each. Firstly A - keep all sites open, B - close Poynton, C - close Bollington and D - close all three sites. If all three sites are closed the council say there will be an estimated 21 per cent increase in traffic in Knutsford.
My loyalty will always be to Tatton and its residents and this is a significant increase in traffic which will create more noise and pollution.
This Labour-led council has no foresight – just last year it scrapped green bins for all households and said either pay for a bin or take your garden waste to the dump. The very dumps they are now proposing to close!
I also doubt they have thought about the increase in fly-tipping closing sites could cause. That will create more costs to the council and ultimately local taxpayers. I really hope people will take part in the consultation and we can get this plan thrown out with the rubbish for want of a better phrase – and make it clear we want the centres kept open.
People can take part in the consultation until June 16 by filling in the survey online at https://surveys.cheshireeast.gov.uk/s/HWRC24/ or by obtaining a hard copy at any library. Alternatively, people can call customer services on 0300 123 55 00 and the council say feedback will be logged and included.
