‘Tips could be saved if Poynton Pool work is scrapped’
ATOWN councillor has said the closure of tips in his and other areas could be avoided if Cheshire East scrapped the £1.38m Poynton Pool works.
Laurence Clarke, from Poynton Town Council, is among many who have strongly objected to the closure of the household waste recycling sites at Bollington, Middlewich and Poynton.
All three sites will be mothballed from April 1 this year as part of emergency cost-cutting measures.
A final decision on their futures is expected in September once the formal review of household waste recycling centres has been completed.
Coun Clarke told a meeting of Cheshire East Council: “This proposal is very bad for the environment.
“It will lead to less recycling, more fly-tipping, illegal dumping, increased traffic on roads as people drive to the site on the south side of Macclesfield, causing air pollution, traffic congestion.
“Cheshire East say they will mothball the site – everyone believes you’re just going to sell it for development.”
He said it would add extra costs in terms of closure, redundancy, security and insurance.
Coun Clarke then referred to the £1.38m Cheshire East is proposing to spend on the controversial ‘safety’ works at the Poynton Pool reservoir.
The council, as landowner, has a legal obligation to carry out works to ensure the pool, classed as a high-risk reservoir, is safe and won’t flood.
But Poynton campaigners argue the proposed works are based on a ‘flawed’ study and there are less harmful and cheaper alternatives available that do not involve large scale removal of trees.
Coun Clarke said: “So if you’re short of money, why not scrap the Poynton Pool spillway scheme which nobody wants in Poynton and use the money saved to keep the waste sites open?
“Alternatively, open the Poynton site on four days a week and Bollington on three days and move the staff between them.”
He was applauded by a number of Cheshire East councillors as he urged the authority to ‘reconsider these damaging proposals and keep the three waste sites open’.
Coun Mick Warren, chair of the environment and communities committee, responded: “As a mitigation [to tip closures] we are proposing to offer an introduction, on a trial basis, of a mobile household waste recycling provision.
“This trial will inform potential future options for the rollout of the mobile provision to other areas in the borough. Details of how a mobile service would operate remain in development.”
A council planning application for Poynton Pool is expected to be considered at the end of March.