Cheshire East has confirmed it did hold talks with neighbouring councils about cross-border use of household waste sites before closing three tips but said it would not have been viable.

The cash-strapped council 'temporarily' closed its tips at Middlewich, Bollington and Poynton in August, ahead of a review of all its household waste and recycling sites.

The following month it announced those three would remain closed permanently.

This means Middlewich residents now have to travel to Crewe for the tip.

Winsford is closer but it is owned by Cheshire West and Chester Council.

At last week's meeting of the full council, Knutsford councillor Tony Dean (Con) asked: "To what extent were potential cross-boundary drawbacks and beneficial reciprocal arrangements discussed with Cheshire West and Chester, Stockport and Staffordshire councils to a, improve resident cross boundary access to HWRCs and b, to reduce any potential impact of rising cross boundary fly-tipping on private as well as public land going forward, and most importantly, provide mutually beneficial cost savings?"

Cllr Mick Warren (Macclesfield, Ind), who chairs the environment and communities committee, was unable to answer at the meeting.

But he has since issued a response stating: "Informal officer dialogue was undertaken around the potential for cross boundary sharing of HWRC sites, however it became clear that the operational, contractual and practical constraints associated and therefore viability of delivering such an arrangement was very unlikely."

He added: "It is considered by officers that even if a cross-border HWRC service arrangement could have been established, the additional administration due to the ongoing need to manage multiple services under different contracts, would have substantially or wholly negated any real cost savings for the waste disposal authorities involved."

With regard to Cllr's Dean reference to fly-tipping, Cllr Warren said: "There is no long-term direct correlation between the number of recorded fly-tipping incidents and the proximity of a nearby HWRC.

"Fly-tipping incident levels will continue to be monitored, reported and dealt with in the established way, to understand the immediate and long-term effects of these now confirmed closures."