Alsager Town Council has hit out over a proposal to close the town's household waste recycling centre, saying it's not only wrong but unjustifiable. 

And it has urged as many residents as possible to respond to the consultation document which closes on June 16th. 

The council says it's "extremely alarmed and disappointed" that the Cheshire East Council Environment and Communities Committee has recommended several options for consultation and consideration. 

It says it is particularly concerned about the inclusion of a sub-option to close and replace Alsager's Household Waste Recycling Centre (HWRC) with a new facility in Congleton. 

The comments come after the town council discussed the matter at its annual meeting when several councillors spoke out as reported here

The town council says the sub-option to replace Alsager with a new site in Congleton is also not cost-effective and it is l urging residents to make their objections known by completing the consultation here before the consultation closes on June 16th. 

Alsager Town Council has published a response to tip closure proposal. (Photo: Nub News)

The town council says: 

Alsager is a core site for Waste and Recycling in Cheshire East. 

Alsager's HWRC is a well-established facility which together with HWRC sites in Crewe, Knutsford and Macclesfield, offer the largest scope of recycling and disposal of different waste streams, are the largest in plan area across the borough making them the most adaptable for futureproofing and currently take circa 76% of waste deposited across all sites, based on 2022/23 figures. 

Replacing Alsager's HWRC with a new site in Congleton does not make financial sense and it is unaffordable. 

Cheshire East Council is facing unprecedented financial challenges with the council's Medium Term-Financial Strategy (MTFS) 2024-28 forecasting a £100 million funding gap over the four-year period. Based upon last year's estimates, a new site in Congleton would cost anywhere between £6-8 million, placing average annual capital borrowing repayments at between £409,000 and £545,000 per annum (over a 25-year period). The funding for the sub-option is not costed within the Council's MTFS and would require further services changes from within the remit of the Environment & Communities Committee budget. 

A new site in Congleton is risky for Cheshire East Council and is not likely to be operationally effective for some considerable time. 

It is highly unlikely that a new site in Congleton would be operational in time for the start of a new contract, whereas the core site of Alsager would still be operational. There would also be significant risks to Cheshire East Council in its ability to acquire a site for a new HWRC at a reasonable cost, and then to gain the necessary permissions to open and operate the new facility. 

The Alsager HWRC is operationally effective, one of the top 4 sites and should remain as a core HWRC site. 

Overall 16.2% of users in August 2022 use Alsager and our HWRC has 15.3% of annual tonnage throughput for 2022-23. This places Alsager's site in the top four core sites across Cheshire East, servicing not only Alsager but the neighbouring towns and villages of Sandbach, Congleton, Haslington, Oakhanger, Church Lawton, Scholar Green and everywhere in-between. 

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