Cheshire East is to press ahead with a public consultation next year on proposals which could see the closure of up to three of the borough's seven tips.

The council will be seeking the views of residents on three options – the worst of which would see the borough left with just four main sites – meaning Poynton, Middlewich and Bollington would close.

A procurement exercise, based on those same options, will also be undertaken to ensure the continuity of household waste recycling centre service provision after the expiry of the current contract.

But, because of the tight budget the council has to work within, environment and communities chair Mick Warren (Ind) said he suspected keeping just four sites open – Crewe, Macclesfield, Alsager and Knutsford – would be the only option that comes back within budget.

"I'm not saying we shouldn't consider the other scenarios but my gut feeling at this moment in time is this is the one we will end up looking at because it will come back within the budget of £2.9m," he said at Thursday's meeting.

The council will be consulting with the public on three options:

1. retain service as is, with maintenance investment across all seven sites needed;
2. reduce to six core existing sites, closing Poynton or Bollington, with investment to modernise where required. Introduce extended mobile HWRC provision as mitigation;
3. reduce to four core existing sites at Crewe, Macclesfield, Alsager and Knutsford with investment to modernise and extend where required. Introduce extended mobile HWRC provision.

Originally the second option was to look at closing just Poynton but, following an amendment from ward councillor Jos Saunders (Con), it was agreed to look at the implications of shutting either Poynton or Bollington.

Cllr Saunders and Poynton Town councillor Laurence Clarke had both argued that if Poynton was closed, those residents would have much further to travel to a tip than Bollington residents would if theirs was closed, because Macclesfield is just five miles from Bollington.

The amendment was narrowly carried by seven votes to six.

A couple of councillors asked about the possibility of Cheshire East residents accessing other local authority tips if they were close and if theirs closed.

Cllr John Bird (Middlewich, Ind) said: "Winsford is a 10 minute drive from Middlewich and they've got quite a big tip there… "

Cllr Mick Warren (Photo: Cheshire East Counci)l

But Cllr Warren said that, just as Cheshire East planned to introduce checks so that only its residents could use Cheshire East tips, other local authorities already do that. He said the committee had to look at the options presented to it, within the Cheshire East boundary, and deliver a service within the budget envelope adding: "And I suspect this [keeping four sites] will be the only one that comes back within that budget."

The committee unanimously agreed the recommendations, which included to delegate to the interim director of environment and neighbourhood services to take all necessary steps to deliver a public consultation on the HWRC options.