KNUTSFORD Town Council has said it does not agree with a repeat of the borough council’s garden waste winter shutdown and has suggested a reduced service as a more appropriate course of action.

At a meeting of the environment and general purposes committee on Monday, members discussed the results of Cheshire East Council’s Winter Garden Waste Shutdown consultation.

Last year, the borough council was criticised for the withdrawal of the service and in reaction undertook a consultation to assess the views of residents about the timing, length and preferred method of communication for the proposed shutdown for 2014/2015.

A total of 2,527 responses were returned from respondents across Cheshire East.

The main findings of the consultation were that respondents preferred a shutdown to commence end of November or early December and the most preferred option for length of shutdown was 12 weeks.

If this was implemented, the shutdown would commence around November 24 – December 5 and the service would resume as normal from beginning of March 2015.

The overwhelming majority of respondents, 91 percent, would prefer to be notified of the winter shutdown period via a sticker being applied to each bin along with a press release to media channels across Cheshire East.

After considering the findings, Clr Julian Goodrich said: “Well, it is interesting they are consulting, but it does assume we are accepting and agreeing that there has to be a shutdown.”

He added that, as a Knutsford resident who pays council tax, he would say no to the withdrawal of a service.

“I suggest that we don’t agree to have a shutdown,” he said.

Clr Peter Coan shared the views of his fellow councillor but suggested a compromise.

“I don’t know why they need to stop the service, why not reduce the service to once a month over the Christmas period?” he suggested.

“I do gardening in winter, I do a lot of logging, generating bits and pieces.”

A proposal was made whereby the town council would not agree with a complete shutdown but would have no objection to a reduced four-weekly service over the three months, with the reduced service starting on November 24.

The proposal was passed with three members voting in favour and one abstaining.