Two Congleton councillors quizzed Cheshire East over a "lack of information" regarding the future of the town's recycling site at a recent meeting.

Cllrs Denis Murphy and Robert Douglas raised questions to the council at a meeting held on Wednesday last week (16th December).

A consultation is currently underway regarding the future of several of the borough's recycling centres - these being Congleton, Alsager, Bollington, Crewe, Knutsford, Macclesfield, Middlewich and Pointon.

Four scenarios are proposed in the consultation, and in every scenario Congleton is set to lose its recycling centre.

At last week's meeting, Cllr Douglas asked: "Cheshire East Council's proposals about household recycling sites that are currently out for public consultation are very misleading. The number of daily users to the sites it advises is based on the period of May and June 2020 during the first lockdown when many, including myself, stayed at home to protect loved ones, and when Cheshire East restricted the days we could visit depending on our vehicle registration number.

"The latest information available of the daily visits to the sites prior to the pandemic is during early 2016, almost five years ago, when Arclid was still open.

"The total number of daily visits in 2016 was 23% higher than the figures advised in these misleading proposals.

"For Congleton, the daily usage was over 30% higher in 2016 than you advise, despite Arclid still being open. With users forced to switch from Arclid and the additional homeowners, the true figure could be getting towards double the daily figure you quote of 186.

"Your proposal also fails to provide any detailed analysis of the damage to our environment as a result of increased CO2, increased fly-tipping and reduced recycling.

"Given your proposals lack the full and correct information on which the public needs in order to make an informed judgement, will you withdraw this public consultation exercise immediately?

"I trust that you will conclude in line with your commitment to be carbon neutral by 2025 that there is only one viable option – to retain recycling in all the current areas, including the new site for Congleton approved and budgeted for by this full Council just this February.

"However, if you still decide that you wish to consider reducing the number of sites, will you start completely afresh and provide the public with accurate up to date daily usage once normality has returned as well as proper and detailed analyses of the impact caused on our environment by the closure of each site?"

In response, Cllr Laura Crane, portfolio holder for highways and waste, said: "I think it is a difficult balance that we have to make when we put these consultations together but we are keen to hear all residents' views.

"We like to make the consultation accessible and we set out the summary of the five options with the full report also available as the appendix.

"When we go out for consultation, there is always a balance to be struck, the amount of information that we make available to people, it is always a tricky balance to strike, as you say.

"So, on this occasion, we didn't believe that there was any meaningful modelling of the items that you request that we could put forward at the time. We didn't think it would influence the decisions of residents.

"So, concerning the carbon reduction, it is also important to note that keeping all sites open and building a new site, is not without its carbon implications.

"Our key aims are to continue to encourage waste reduction in the home and the reuse of items locally where possible which are always the best options for reducing carbon from waste.

"We consider that there is sufficient information available at present and we would encourage anyone who has not responded to the consultation to do so before the closing date of 4th January next year."

Cllr Denis Murphy also asked his own question about the recycling sites.

He said: "Unfortunately, I am well aware that it is rather difficult sometimes to respond and reply but I do think that you didn't really answer the questions that Councillor Douglas was putting to you. Possibly, there were no answers available and obviously, I am sure that you will follow up on the questions that he asked about the relevance of the statistics that were presented and various other points that he made.

"That aside, I have to tell you that all of the Town Councillors and the Borough Councillors in Congleton are very concerned about the possible loss of the waste recycling facility in the town.

"I made exactly the same point when it was raised first. I said this Council was on a hiding to nothing with a proposal that is going out for a consultation when the third and fourth largest towns were effectively excluded from the discussion on where the recycling sites were going to be.

"So, I do not know whether you can give me an answer now but that is the situation as I see it."

Cllr Crane responded: "I think that it would be inappropriate for me to comment on a consultation that is still underway with regard to which sites stay, which go, or whether they all stay. That is there as an option. Congleton is there, as is Poynton for staying.

"I think it is really really important that everybody fills in that consultation. We need to hear these messages, we need to have that information available to us.

"So, yep, no decisions have been made. It is a consultation. So, we will see what the end of it brings and what the review at the end of that sees.

"With regard to the statistics, I don't believe it is ever possible to include every single piece of information that people would like to have to hand.

"On this occasion, those were figures that it wasn't deemed appropriate to include. But that is something that I will take on board for anything in the future, certainly."

In a joint statement following the meeting, Cllrs Douglas and Murphy said: "At the full Cheshire East Council meeting held on 16th December 2020, Denis and I both raised with the Portfolio Holder, Laura Crane, our concerns about the misleading information and the lack of information in Cheshire East's public consultation on the future of household recycling sites.

"Firstly, the daily usage figures of the sites, detailed in the public consultation, are based on the period of May and June 2020 during the first lockdown, when many stayed at home to protect loved ones and when Cheshire East Council restricted the days on which the public could visit the sites depending on their vehicle registration number.

"We have obtained information from Cheshire East Council that daily usage figures at the Congleton site in 2016 were over 30% higher than they quote in this public consultation document and in 2016, the Arclid site was still open. This indicates that the daily usage figures at Congleton could in fact be approaching double the daily figure of 186 detailed in the public consultation. Laura Crane in her answers to us ignored our point about these misleading daily usage figures.

"Secondly, Cheshire East Council's proposals fail to provide any detailed analysis of the damage to our environment as a result of increased CO2 caused by additional travelling and engine idling in the longer queues and also increased fly-tipping and reduced recycling which would result from the closure of a household recycling site. Laura Crane responded that, "So, on this occasion, we didn't believe that there was any meaningful modelling of the items that you request that we could put forward at the time. We didn't think it would influence the decisions of residents".

"Given Cheshire East Council is committed to being carbon neutral by 2025, it is extraordinary that in its public consultation, it has failed to provide any assessment of the damage caused to our environment by its proposals.

"How can the public give an informed response when this public consultation document contains misleading information and lacks the vital information about the damage these proposals will cause to our environment?

"Thirdly, we stated that to achieve Cheshire East Council's goal to be carbon neutral by 2025. there is only one viable option. That option is to retain recycling in all the current areas, including the new site for Congleton approved and budgeted for by this full Council just this February.

As Laura Crane stated, "it is really really important that everybody fills in that consultation."

"This consultation can be completed by entering in Google "Cheshire East consultations", then click on the top result and then under current consultations, you will find it under the title "Household Waste Recycling Centre Review". The deadline for completion is 5 pm on Friday, 4th January, 2021.

"We urge you all to complete this consultation and send the message loud and clear back to Cheshire East Council that there has to be a recycling site in the Congleton area.

"We and our Liberal Democrat colleagues will continue to vigorously campaign for Cheshire East Council to keep its commitment made just nine months ago of building a modern, purpose-built recycling site for the residents of Congleton."