Cheshire East next to close HWRCs as councils warn of further cuts

In its budget for 2024/25, the council confirmed that it will close HWRCs in Bollington, Middlewich and Poynton from 1 April.

This would save the authority £263,000 in both 2024/25 and the following financial year.

This confirms proposals set out by the council in September 2023 (see letsrecycle.com story), where the council warned of “significant” financial pressures and the need to cut costs after posting a budget deficit of £12.8 million in the 2023/24 financial year.

Cheshire East’s HWRCs are run by the council’s in-house firm Ansa.

LGA

Cheshire East’s announcement arrived the same week as a poll from the LGA found that two thirds of councils say communities will see cutbacks to local neighbourhood services this year – such as waste collection, road repairs, library, and leisure services – as they struggle to plug funding gaps.

Ahead of the Spring Budget, the LGA said the government will have to provide further funding to address the “growing financial crisis facing councils and local services”.

The LGA said government has encouraged councils to consider using their reserves to plug funding gaps this year with the LGA survey showing that 7 in 10 councils are using reserves to set a balanced budget in 2024/25.

“However, reserves can only be spent once and the LGA insists that encouraging councils to spend them in this way could perversely put more local areas on the fast-track to financial crisis.”

HWRC closures

In recent months, as councils warn of their dire financial positions, many have considered either closing HWRCs entirely or reducing their opening hours.

Last month, Hampshire consulted on plans which could see up to 12 of its sites closed (see letsrecycle.com story), with several other authorities considering similar moves.

However, this has been met with some opposition from Defra, with the recycling minister Robbie Moore saying this should only be done as a “last resort” (see letsrecycle.com story).