Rise in fly-tipping since site closed

Dear Sir,

At the end of September 2017, Cheshire East Council, contrary to the wishes of the majority of local residents closed the Arclid Recycling Site.

Then, in January, 2018, Cheshire East Council revealed that it planned to dispose of the Arclid Recycling Site and surrounding woodland.

These plans to dispose of this site together with neighbouring woodland appalled me and I put in a tremendous amount of effort and time, including trawling through Cheshire East Council's Local Plan, so that I could lodge a detailed letter of objection to these plans.

My letter of objection which I delivered by hand to Cheshire East Council on 2nd February 2018 set out in detail thirteen objections to these disposal plans.

Briefly, my objections were :

1. i) Cheshire East Council had not yet assessed whether the closure of the Arclid site caused an adverse impact on traffic in the surrounding areas.
2. ii) Cheshire East Council had not yet assessed whether the closure of the site caused an adverse impact on air quality in Congleton and surrounding areas. In fact, the closure would almost certainly increase traffic in West Street, Congleton which is an area that exceeds the legal limits for acceptable air quality.

iii) Cheshire East Council had not yet assessed whether the closure of the Arclid site caused an adverse impact on fly-tipping.

1. iv) The Arclid site could be contaminated with hazardous materials.
2. v) There is the concern about Methane gas in some parts of the Arclid site.
3. vi) Part of the woodland Cheshire East wishes to dispose of is covered by a Group Tree Preservation Order in respect of Sycamore, Birch and Pine trees and this will be at risk if the site is disposed of.

vii) There is a nearby site of Special Scientific Interest and this is better protected if the site is retained by Cheshire East Council.

viii) Disposing of the site fails to comply with the Brereton Parish Neighbourhood Plan.

1. ix) to xii) Disposing of the site is contrary to four different aspects of Cheshire East Council's own Local Plan. Cheshire East Council's own Local Plan states that it is a sparsely wooded Borough with about 4% woodland cover and it is losing its tree species diversity.

xiii) Disposing of the site is contrary to the Government's National Planning Policy Framework.

I have just received a response from Cheshire East Council to my detailed four page letter of 13 objections.

Cheshire East Council in their reply claim that they have taken my points into consideration but have still decided to go ahead with disposing of the Arclid site. Cheshire East Council in their response also advise that the disposal would be subject to additional due diligence but in their response they have not provided any further details. Personally I think the lack of detail in their response, given the detailed information I provided, is unacceptable.

While waiting for Cheshire East Council's response to my February 2018 letter of objections, I have obtained further relevant information by submitting Freedom Of Information (F.O.I) Requests to Cheshire East Council.

Firstly, I asked what proportion of amounts that were recycled at the Arclid site does the Council think is not now being recycled at other sites because users of the Arclid site have increased their household waste in order to avoid travelling greater distances or on account of increased fly-tipping. Cheshire East Council responded by advising that it has no idea what the adverse implications are on our local environment following the closure of the Arclid site. This is truly shocking.

Secondly, I asked for detailed information about fly-tipping in some of the Wards in Cheshire East. The information provided by Cheshire East Council revealed that fly-tipping was significantly higher in all four wards of Brereton Rural, Congleton East, Congleton West and Dane Valley, (albeit some of them were at a low level), in the nine months following the closure of the Arclid site compared to the nine months prior to its closure. In the nine months prior to the closure of the Arclid site the total number of fly-tipping incidents in all those four Wards was 36 but in the nine months following the closure of the Arclid site, this had increased to 52 incidents - an increase of over 44%. Surely, it is not coincidental that such a significant increase in fly-tipping has occurred following the closure of the Arclid site.

Yet without ensuring that there are no significant adverse implications on the environment following the closure of the Arclid Recycling Site, Cheshire East Council seems determined to dispose of this site and its surrounding woodland. In my opinion, the decision to pursue the disposal of the Arclid site appears to be down to Cheshire East Council trying to recover some of the monies lost through financial scandals in recent years, even if this decision is at the expense of the environment that so many of us cherish.

We, the council tax payers of Cheshire East Council deserve better, much better, than this.

Yours faithfully,

Robert Douglas,

2 Hollycroft,

Congleton CW12 4SH.