Cheshire Independent Issue 220

MACCLESFIELD • TYTHERINGTON • BOLLINGTON ALDERLEY EDGE • PRESTBURY • WILMSLOW • HANDFORTH • POYNTON • BRAMHALL • DISLEY • ALSAGER • BIDDULPH • CONGLETON • SANDBACH ISSUE 220 FREE CHESHIRE FREE YOUR LOCAL GOOD NEWS-PAPER FOLLOW US ON TWITTER: @CheshireIndy www.independentnewspapers.co.uk Looking for Flooring Inspiration? Let us help you find the perfect flooring for your home. With great advice, home styling, measure and planning service, plus quality fitting of top brands and designs, youwill be glad you did . Visit our showroom: Tuesday to Saturday or call 01260 224445 for a private appointment Thornycroft Farm, Pexhill Road, Siddington, Cheshire SK11 9JN ● Modern, Traditional & Luxury Carpets ● Natural Wood Flooring ● Laminate Flooring ● Stair Runners & Rods ● Luxury Vinyl Tiles ● Bespoke Rugs & Runners CHESHIRE East Council has voted unanimously to formally object to the £5 billion Peak Cluster CO2 pipeline proposal. There was applause from the public gallery as all 66 councillors present at the full council meeting backed a motion to oppose the contro- versial project, which aims to capture carbon dioxide from cement and lime plants in Derbyshire and Staffordshire and transfer it via a 121-mile pipeline to a storage facility under the Irish Sea. Several members of the public spoke out against the controversial pipeline which will pass through four local authority areas, including Cheshire East, if approved by government. Wirral, Cheshire West & Chester, and Derbyshire councils have already formally objected to the scheme. The motion, first put forward by Conservatives The Peak Cluster plan includes areas on the outskirts of Congleton (Image: Supplied) Council votes to formally object to £5bn Peak Cluster CO2 proposal Lesley Smetham and Hayley Whitaker in July, had been updated and included the backing of councillors Michael Gorman (Wilmslow, Ind) and Dawn Clark (Crewe, Lab). It urged the council to for- mally object to the scheme and to detail its concerns to the project’s developers, the planning inspectorate and relevant regulatory bodies. Cheshire East will also write to the government requesting that ‘no approval be granted until the issues identified by this council have been satisfactorily resolved’. Cllr Smetham (Gasworth) said: “Mitigation for climate change is essential, but we should not do harm during that process.” She said Peak Cluster was ‘a costly and extreme proposal’ and had ‘no benefit for the people of Cheshire East’. “We would leave stored car- bon and its related harm and cost to be dealt with by future generations,” she said. Cllr Hayley Whitaker (Poynton) said: “Our objection is not to reducing carbon emis- sions, it is to a project that raises serious questions about safety, environmental dam- age, land use, and detrimental impact on communities.” Cllr John Knight (Maccles- field, Green) said the pipeline proposal was presented as a measure of decarbonisation but was allowing the industry to side-step when companies should be ‘multiplying their Amendments to Peak Cluster Route Blue was consulted in January 2026, red is the revised route going forward to next round of consultation this month (Image: Supplied) efforts to change production methods to reduce carbon dioxide production’. Council leader Nick Man- nion (Macclesfield, Lab) said there were ‘too many unan- swered questions’ about the proposal. He told the meeting: “Climate change is real…we need to act now.” But he added: “Is Peak Cluster Ltd’s proposal the safest and most appropri- ate response for the cement industry? I have yet to be convinced.” Last month, following consultation, Peak Cluster announced amendments to the proposed pipeline route. PIPELINE PROTEST