COUNCILLORS will attend a special meeting on Thursday to challenge the decision made to gift Ansa £2.4 million to clean up contaminated Middlewich land.

Members of Cheshire East Council voted to give the council-owned waste management firm the funding at a meeting in July, where Cllr Paul Bates, cabinet member for finance, told councillors the money would be paid back as a loan and ‘there will be no cost to the public purse’.

But CEC later confirmed the money was a transfer of funds from its capital projects budget and would not be paid back – as outlined in a report issued ahead of the meeting in July.

A special meeting will now be held after five councillors, led by Cllr Amanda Stott, independent member for Bollington, submitted a motion calling for the money to be paid back as a loan - with the original decision ‘based on incorrect or misleading information’.

Cllr Simon McGrory, CEC member for Middlewich, believes councillors should have questioned Cllr Bates’ statement when the minutes of July’s meeting were agreed in October – and not at today’s special meeting.

“I believe the wording of the motion is wrong and can’t support it as it shows a lack of understanding of the facts,” he told the Guardian.

“However, I do agree that if members believe they were misled by the debate and the information presented, then they should look to ‘put the record straight’ and ask for clarity on the decision made.

“To be honest I would have expected anyone who was not sure to have got clarity in the debate in July before making a decision, especially if they truly believe the information was conflicting.”

The Middlewich First councillor added that he understood the money was to be used on building the environmental hub and not to be used for Ansa, which he insists ‘would be wrong and I could not support that’.

Cllr Jonathan Parry, a Labour member of Middlewich Town Council, has been pushing CEC to re-examine the decision made in July – and attempted to ask CEC’s cabinet about the issue in last month’s meeting.

He said: “People voted on the understanding the money would be paid back – should we now not believe anything councillors say at the meeting?

“The council said it was a genuine error, but he was quite clear. This was a cabinet member, the same one who is dealing with out bus cuts.

“He misled councillors, the press and the public. The result could have been very different if members knew they were giving away £2.4 million of public money.”