Three-weekly black bin collections will be introduced across Cheshire East from April 2026 with one councillor saying, 'the fact is we can't afford to not do this'.

The environment and communities committee voted by seven to six this week to change to a three-weekly collection – with the Conservatives and one Independent, Cllr Hannah Moss (Mobberley), voting against.

The cash-strapped council says collecting household waste bins every three weeks instead of fortnightly is the only way it can fund its legal requirement to introduce weekly food waste pick-ups by April 2026.

Cheshire East needs to reduce spending by £100m over the next four years and the bin collection change will save an estimated £1m.

During the lengthy debate, concerns were raised about the impact on the elderly, people with medical needs, fly-tipping and the possible contamination of the grey recycling bins because of overflowing black bins.

There were also fears the council might be acting too hastily, as last year the previous government launched a consultation which included draft guidance requiring councils to collect residual (black bin) waste each fortnight as a minimum.

Cllr Janet Clowes (Wybunbury, Con) said: "My biggest concern is I'm not sure this is a risk we should be taking at this early stage of the current government…

"I would resent having to go through all that pain if, in the next 12 months, Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) come back and say we've looked at that piece of imminent legislation and actually we're going to put a limit of two weeks on residual waste collection."

Bunbury Cllr Becky Posnett (Con) said: "I have enormous concerns over the paper that was presented [to the committee] because of the lack of detail."

She added: "I'm going to keep it simple, on the fact that 84 per cent of residents do not want this.

"I was voted for by residents, I represent residents and therefore I cannot support it."

Cllr Mary Brooks (Macclesfield, Lab) said it wasn't 84 per cent of residents who opposed the change, it was 84 per cent of people who responded to the consultation.

"I'm reassured that lots of local authorities have already done this – Bury, Wigan, Rochdale, Salford – the sky hasn't fallen in, and it's operated quite happily there," said Cllr Brooks.

"The fact is, we can't afford to not do this because what is certain is that we have to do this food waste collection from 2026, and I think there's a lot of detail in the report that demonstrates we cannot afford to keep both a two-weekly collection and do a weekly food waste collection."

She added: "I think it's very unlikely the present government will turn round to those councils that are already doing three-weekly collections and tell them, no you've got to go two-weekly, because where's the money going to come from for that?

"We haven't really got a choice not to do this and I just wondered where the savings could be made otherwise if we didn't."

Cllr Moss said if Cheshire East did vote to implement three-weekly collections it wouldn't actually be operational until 2026, so if the government decided to make two-weekly black bin collections mandatory 'it would be easier for the government to say, we will leave the councils who have it in place currently, not the ones who plan to have it in place, so we are running the risk'.