Norfolk county council is confident plans to introduce a 2 charge at nine of 20 household waste and recycling centres (HWRCs) are lawful, despite criticism from government this week that the charges go against council duties in the Environment Protection Act.
In a letter addressed to the government yesterday (March 6), Norfolk council leader George Nobbs said he was perplexed that the government had only now expressed a view on the proposal more than five months after the council first consulted on the issue.
He also went on to criticise the indecision over planning permission for the countys proposed energy-from-waste (EfW) incinerator in Kings Lynn.
As part of a number of measures intended to make up a 189 million shortfall in its budget over the next three years, the county council is proposing to charge residents 2 to use nine of its 20 HWRCs from 2016/17, which it says will save 280,000 and help to keep all 20 sites open.
But a letter sent to the council by both Defra minister Dan Rogerson and DCLG minister Brandon Lewis last Friday (February 28) questioned the legality of the councils plans, labelling them a backdoor bin charge (see letsrecycle.com story).
The ministers claimed that charging residents to use HWRCs would increase fly-tipping and discourage recycling.
Writing in response, however, Councillor Nobbs said that as charges would not be introduced at the majority of the countys HWRCs, the council was meeting its duty under the section 51 of the Environment Protection Act 1990 to provide places to deposit household waste free of charge.
‘We are also confident it does not affect our responsibilities in any way under the Environmental Protection Act 1990. This law gives us a duty to provide places for residents to deposit household waste free of charge and to dispose of any waste deposited there. We would still be meeting this duty by providing the 11 free sites across the county.’
Norfolk county council leader George Nobbs
He said that the council was confident it does not affect our responsibilities in any way as it would still be meeting this duty by providing the 11 free site across the county, adding that neighbouring Suffolk also has 11 HWRCs all free to use and Cambridgeshire has nine.
Mr Nobbs also highlighted sections of both the Local Government Act 2000 and Local Government Act 2003, which he said gave the council powers to provide services which are likely to improve the well-being of an area and to charge for those services where we do not have a legal duty to provide them.
According to the council leader, Norfolks HWRC network is one of the largest in the country and the vast majority of residents live within 8-9 miles of a site, in some cases closer than they are to a large value money supermarket.
Somerset
In addition, Mr Nobbs said Norfolks charging proposal is very similar to the 2 entry fee charged at four of Somersets 18 HWRCs since April 2011 (see letsrecycle.com story), which has helped to prevent sites in that county from closing.
Mr Nobbs said: Taking the above into account, we think our proposal is pragmatic and reasonable given the scale of the savings we are required to make.
Referring to the cuts in local authority funding from central government, Mr Nobbs suggested that as the council was being challenged to seek other revenue stream ideas, it was unfair that the government should then intervene in a negative way at the first sign that those ideas are being put into practice.
Kings Lynn EfW
The county council is also currently awaiting a final decision from communities secretary Eric Pickles over whether to allow planning permission for controversial plans for the 500 million EfW incinerator in Kings Lynn, which would treat 268,000 tonnes of residual waste each year (see letsrectcle.com story).
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Following a public inquiry into the EfW proposals last summer, a final decision has been expected in January 2014, and in his letter yesterday Mr Nobbs went on to urge the government to speed up decision making processes rather than picking on local authorities at a time when they are implementing new ways of delivering services to more people for less money.
He wrote: As you will appreciate, we would welcome further clarification on this at the earliest opportunity.
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