CONCERNED residents who went along to the Ansa waste site consultations in Middlewich have been left frustrated saying they received few answers.

More than 100 people attended the two consultation events at the Town Hall on Friday, March 13 and Saturday, March 14, which were put on to give residents a chance to ask questions about the plans and feed back any concerns they have.

However, several members of the public who went along described the visit as a ‘waste of time.’

Bill Walmsley, from Middlewich, said: “I feel that the council have simply undertaken a 'box ticking' exercise. Although the officers at the meeting were very pleasant, they were woefully under-informed.

“As anyone who has sat in one of the daily traffic jams in Middlewich will know, traffic is a major concern to Middlewich residents, so it was always going to be something that would need to be discussed at a consultation of this type. However, as Cheshire East has yet to complete a Traffic Assessment for this proposed development, the officers did not have any information at all about traffic.

“Different people were being given different figures and inadequate answers were offered.

“Consultation should be meaningful - this was just a waste of time for all concerned.”

Martin Bott added: “I was told that Middlewich was the centre of the Council area and was ideal from this point for the waste site, even though there are serious traffic problems here.

“These are compounded by no bypass and the existing routes are a nightmare when used as escape routes from local motorway incidents.”

Cllr David Topping, Cheshire East’s cabinet member for service commissioning, responded by saying the council will be in a better position to answer highways questions after the assessment.  

He said: “I hope more people will view the information on the council’s website and fill in the survey so that we can take their views and concerns into account.

“We will be analysing these surveys before the planning proposals are drawn up and we will consider the public’s views on all aspects of the scheme.

“We are carrying out a full highways assessment which will measure current traffic movements around Cledford Lane and consider the impact of additional movements associated with the proposed depot.

“Once the study has been carried out we will be in a much better position to respond to concerns about highways matters.

“We plan to replace a large, untidy site with a smart-looking, new facility. To dispel some rumours, we have no intention of using it to produce energy from waste, and all our household waste sites will remain open.”