The Department's Waste Implementation Programme is to make funds available for councils to take on consultants for another two years, until 2007/08.
” Almost 95% of local authorities have at some stage received support, and the feedback we have received from those is that it has made a big impact.“
– John Enright, Defra
Defra is targeting this direct consultancy support mainly at partnerships of districts and councils, offering such partnerships funding of up to 50,000.
Unitary authorities can also apply for up to 15,000 in support, and are also being urged to form partnerships to improve their waste services.
John Enright, head of local authority support for WIP, warned that unless local authorities form partnerships as well as taking advantage of all the support available, waste targets may not be met.
He said: “The WIP team has been working closely with local government to find ways of sharing experience and perceptions accordingly. And there will be a strong element of partnership working among the new projects.”
Projects
Consultancy support will allow councils to improve their waste planning, waste strategy development, procurement and analysis of waste composition.
Initially, Defra said it is looking for applications to fund 'time-critical' projects that need to start by May 2006. Separate funding will then be made available in October 2006. The Department is willing to support one project each year, or a single two-year project.
The decision to extend the consultancy programme, which has been running since 2003, came after a good response from councils so far.
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Mr Enright said: “Almost 95% of local authorities have at some stage received support, and the feedback we have received from those is that it has made a big impact on their performance. Indeed, higher recycling rates are now being delivered by the great majority of councils.”
Detailed guidance and an application form is available from the WIP local authority support website.
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