Residents have been reminded that there are only five days left to make their voices heard on the future of the Congleton Recycling Centre.

Cheshire East Council is currently running a consultation over a proposed review of recycling centres in the borough.

Residents have been asked for their views on four scenarios for the future of the recycling centres - and all four scenarios would see the Congleton site gone.

The consultation closes on Monday, 4th January at 5pm, and residents have been urged to take the opportunity to have their say while they still can.

To take part in the consultation, click here.

At a meeting held earlier this month, Congleton Town Council objected to Cheshire East's proposals to remove the Congleton site, and urged the borough council to commit to providing a new purpose-built household recycling site for Congleton.

In a statement signed by the town council's chief officer David McGifford and Congleton mayor Cllr Sally Ann Holland, the town council spoke against the proposals.

The statement can be read in full below.

"Congleton is the fourth biggest town in Cheshire East and is set to expand by almost a third. Predictions in the CEC Local Plan sees Congleton and its immediate surrounding parishes grow by almost 4,000 households. With this is mind, we find it shocking that the four options put forward by Cheshire East Council in its public consultation all exclude an option for a site in and around Congleton.

"We understand that the Congleton Household Waste Recycling site has to be relocated because its current owner does not wish to renew the lease, however this consultation makes no refence to the Cheshire East Council plans to create a new purpose-built site for Congleton. On 20th February 2020, Cheshire East Council approved the medium-term financial strategy, and within its capital program there was a budget of £4 million for a new purpose-built site for Congleton to be spent over the two years of 2020/21 and 2021/22. A modern purpose-built recycling Centre is just what our environment needs and the cancellation of this worthwhile project by Cheshire East's Cabinet was without discussion by full council.

"The report details the average number of users per day for each of the recycling sites during May and June 2020. However, the months of May and June 2020 were during the first lockdown when large numbers of residents did not venture out to protect loved ones from the virus. The sites did not reopen until the 11th May, and then had an odd and even number plate entry system. Cllr Laura Crane told people; "to think about how essential it is to travel to a site … we would be grateful if additional waste and recycling could be kept at home." With the situation that we were in, it was not the best time to use to benchmark the usage of the sites.

"This report estimates that with the closure of the Congleton site and only retaining four or fewer recycling sites, the total throughput tonnage for Macclesfield would more than double.

"While the report reveals the anticipated savings that could be achieved by the closure of sites, it has failed to look at the cost implications resulting from increasing tonnage of those sites retained. The report just states that there is significant, as yet un-costed, works required at the Macclesfield site.

"The report also acknowledges that under some of its proposals, the increase in throughput tonnage of the retained sites would result in significant increases in vehicle movements of residents and service vehicles and that, as there is limited space for queuing, the queues could end up on public highways, with many car engines idling in the longer queues.

"It is also worth noting that this report approved by Cabinet hardly touches on the critical issues relating to the environment.

"We believe that the adoption of proposals by Cheshire East Council which mean that there would not be a household recycling site in or near Congleton will have significant adverse impacts on our environment including:

"- Poorer air quality as a consequence of residents having to travel further to their nearest recycling site.

"- Poorer air quality as a consequence of longer queues at the retained sites with no doubt many waiting in the longer queues idling their car engines.

"- Loss of tonnage taken to the Congleton recycling site following its closure. The report assumes that about 4% of Congleton's tonnage will be lost which equates to about 111 tonnes which instead of being recycled may be put in the Household General Waste.

"However, we suggest that this calculation is flawed because it is based on the loss of tonnage lost following the closure of the Arclid site. Arclid is five miles from Congleton and its closure resulted in a 4% loss of its tonnage. The distance between Congleton and Macclesfield is significantly more than five miles, so if there is no site in Congleton, its tonnage losses will be significantly more than 4%.

"Both the Town Council and Cheshire East Council have signed up to the Climate Change Emergency. We feel that this proposal flies in the face of that declaration is a total contradiction of Cheshire East Councils' commitments to sustainability and becoming carbon neutral by 2025.

"We are also concerned with the increased amounts of fly tipping which may occur due to the addition expense, time and inconvenience of getting to a local Household Waste Site and the environmental, health and financial costs of dealing with the consequences.

"We sincerely hope that Cheshire East Council will give full consideration to the needs of the community in Congleton. We fear that the headline figures following a borough-wide consultation, where most communities are not as affected as ourselves, may mask the damage that the polices will cause to Congleton.

"We were also a little surprise to see a big leap in options from either visiting the tip once a month or twice a year. A straw poll around the office picked up most people visit 5-6 times a year!

"We would urge Cheshire East Council to reconsider the options and to reinstate the proposals for a new Household Recycling Site for Congleton, as proposed in the Medium Financial Strategy approved by Cheshire East Council on the 20th February 2020."