THURSDAY, 22nd SEPTEMBER, 2011.

The FT loves Bearmania

Page 29

Gawsworth Fun Run Readers'Views

Pages 22-25

Page 16

What’s on... What’s gone...

Pages 18-20

Councillo cleared

Page 56

Is the Congleton First party over? By Chris Young

A town councillor has umped from Congleton First to the UK Independence Party.

Coun Michael Hutton’s move means that there is only one Congleton First member on the town council after three were elected in May.

It could be the end of the arty that was formed last year to fight Cheshire East Council’s parking charges as members are considering “whether it will be worth going on”.

Neville Price was elected to the town council as a Congleton First member in May, but became an inde-

endent councillor. Another founding member, Graham Goodwin, left Congleton First before the election and unsuccessfully stood as an independent candidate.

Congleton First did not win any seats on Cheshire East Council but gained three on the town council, ousting Liberal Democrat and Labour councillors.

Coun Hutton gained 1,413 votes from Congleton West Ward, while the UKIP candidate Louise Bours gained 1,218 votes, not enough to gain a seat in the same ward.

A statement from Congleton First questioned whether Coun Hutton’s move to the UKIP meant that community matters would not now be important to him, but the councillor vowed that Congleton residents “are kept at the heart of what happens in their town.

“Obviously we are disappointed with Mr Hutton’s actions, as the electorate of Congleton had the opportunity to elect a UKIP representative in both Cheshire East and Congleton Town Elections and chose not to.

“It would be, we feel, appropriate for Mr Hutton to stand down and apply for re-election at a by-election.

“However, we believe that at a cost — circa £3,500 — to the people of Congleton, the better option as worn by the celebrities now available at

Browns of Congleton

N.A.G. Member Q u a l i t y J e w e l l e r s Established 1920

Tel. 01260 291332 62 High Street, Congleton, Cheshire, CW12 1BA

would be for Mr Hutton to resign his position and the council to co-opt a new councillor who has demonstrated principles that are in line with Congleton First’s community based activities rather than European ones, allowing Mr Hutton to stand at the next election for UKIP.”

Coun John Saville Crowther, the only remaining Congleton First member, said he was “gobsmacked” with his colleague’s decision to leave the party and added: “His departure just came out of the blue. He was voted in as a member of Congleton. I don’t know what makes him think he can switch. The driver of this truck had a lucky escape after it plunged into the Macclesfield Canal on Tuesday.

• —Turn to back page.

To find out more turn to page 8. (“Chronicle” photo. 3828a/11).

Residents told to bag rubbish that won’t be collected for a month

Some Congleton households will not have their rubbish collected for a month because of changes to Macclesfield bin collections.

The next collection for Buglawton residents whose homes are included in the neighbouring district’s rounds found out this week that the next collection is mid-October.

But letters informing residents of the change have not yet been sent out and the first sign of a delay was the delivery of Monday of black bags to the households.

When Havannah Lane resident Stephen Lambourne spotted the bunch of bags, he checked the council website and was shocked to discovered that his next collection would be on Friday, 14th October.

The council said the introduction of new recycling bins in Macclesfield would affect collections in north Congleton and some collections had fallen in the gap. One thousand six hundred and four homes will be affected.

The message on the website stated: “A significant number of Congleton properties may find they have a change in collection day.” It adds that letters informing residents of the changes would be sent out later in the month.

In some places recycling bins will be collected twice before the next household waste collection.

Mr Lambourne said: “I understand them making the change, but someone obviously hasn’t thought it through.

“I have had just had my bins emptied but it means now that if I have a party this weekend my bin is going to be full for four weeks. I have a family of four and my bin is going to get full in two weeks. I pay council tax to have my bins emptied every two weeks. Do we get a refund on our tax for this?”

Mr Lambourne said his property was near the Macclesfield Canal and the overflow bin bags might attract foxes and rats.

He added: “I would have expected a letter to have been sent by the end of August at least. We don’t have the option to plan ahead now. My wife cooked a chicken last night and we threw the carcass out. That is going to be there for four weeks.

“There are quite a lot of OAPs on my road, they wouldn’t go on a website. Why did they update the website before they sent letters out?”

A council spokesman said: “Some households will experience a longer than usual gap between the end of the old collection scheme and the start of the new one. • —Turn to back page.

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