STOCKTON Heath community recycling centre (CRC) is planned to reopen this month, the council leader has confirmed.

The town’s three CRCs are located in Stockton Heath, on Sandy Lane, Gatewarth, on Barnard Street, and Woolston, on New Cut Lane.

They were closed in March following huge queues amid the coronavirus crisis, however, the Woolston and Gatewarth sites reopened in May.

But the wait for the Stockton Heath facility to do so continues.

Council leader Cllr Russ Bowden has provided an update on the situation.

The Labour politician said: “We have been working on reopening the Sandy Lane site for a number of weeks, following the successful arrangements at Gatewarth and Woolston. Our plan is to reopen later this month.

“It is not quite as simple as the other sites, in terms of managing traffic in and out, and in ensuring social distancing is in place, so the arrangements have taken a bit longer.”

Warrington and Halton Green Party leader Lyndsay McAteer, who will be standing for the party in Stockton Heath in the next borough council election, expressed concerns over the situation.

She said: “Driving to other areas in the town to use CRCs means more car journeys, more emissions and more air pollution.

“Everyone understands the need for caution when reopening facilities such as these.

“A traffic plan and robust health and safety restrictions would certainly be needed.

“In Woolston and Gateworth this work has already been done.”

Cllr Bowden also reaffirmed a new tip will be delivered in the south of the town in the future.

He said: “If you look at the local plan and the number of new homes that would be delivered in the south of Warrington, it is quite clear that we would need a new state-of-the-art facility as part of that plan.”

On the local plan, he added: “At the moment with the local plan, it is really a case of looking at the impact of Covid-19.

“There is obviously a strong theme in the local plan around Warrington’s projected economic growth, for example.

“I think until we see what the bigger national picture is, particularly on the fallout from the Covid-19 crisis, it is right that we take time to pause and reflect right now.

“The local plan also has to go to a full council meeting, I don’t think it would be doing the people of Warrington or the local plan process justice to try and do that in a virtual meeting held over Microsoft Teams.

“It needs to be a proper discussion and dialogue in a full council meeting where all the issues can be raised.”