Concerns have been raised that neighbouring recycling centres could be impacted by the planned closure of Congleton's tip later this year.

Congleton Recycling Centre is due to close in September 2021, and has been earmarked to become a Costa coffee drive-through outlet.

The closure has been met with opposition from many of the town's residents and councillors, who feel that the town, with a population of over 27,000 and more than 13,000 houses, should have its own recycling centre.

If the recycling centre is closed, Congleton residents would need to travel to neighbouring tips to dispose of their waste - the closest of these being in Biddulph, Macclesfield and Alsager, with each being around 7 miles away from Congleton.

Those in opposition to the recycling centre's closure believe that it would cause the neighbouring tips, such as the one in Biddulph, to become too busy, as well as being harmful to the environment due to the extra travel needed for residents to dispose of their rubbish.

Congleton town Cllr Russell Chadwick said the closure of Congleton's recycling centre would cause "chaos" at nearby tips.

He said: "Chaos will ensue [in traffic from Congleton heading to other areas] from September after our refuse site closes.

"The whole plan is ill thought through. Cheshire East have stated it would cost £4m to build a new tip. How much will the traffic chaos cost, along with the clean-up from fly-tipping in the Congleton and surrounding parish areas?

"If this plan to close the refuse site does go ahead in Congleton, the next local elections will be carnage for our current Labour and Independent councillors.

"Cheshire East has approved nearly 5,000 new homes in Congleton, which will bring over 10,000 additional residents, and they want to close our refuse site.

"It just smacks of political shenanigans. We all need to work together to build a better environment and not encourage political divisions."

Biddulph recycling centre is 7.1 miles away from Congleton, with Macclesfield recycling centre being almost the same distance from Congleton at 7.0 miles, and Alsager recycling centre being slightly further away at 7.7 miles.

Another Congleton town Cllr, Paul Duffy, explained his environmental concerns around the tip's closure.

He said: "The proposal for residents of Congleton to travel ... to recycle waste adds 3.9 tonnes of extra carbon dioxide per week into the atmosphere.

"Previous replies to extra CO2 emissions have highlighted that a new facility would create extra CO2 emissions, yet in Cheshire East other major building opportunities continue seemingly irrespective of their environmental impact.

"How does closing a recycling centre, adding 3.9 tonnes of carbon dioxide fit in with the climate emergency declared by Cheshire East in 2019?"