Call for flexibility in Joint Waste Authorities

Published by Defra, summary responses to draft regulations and draft guidance on establishing statutory Joint Waste Authorities (JWAs) showed that there is general support for creating partnerships between authorities ahead of the publication of the Joint Waste Authorities (Proposals) Regulations 2008 in the autumn.

However, respondents to the consultation – which closed at the start of June – said there was a demand for local constituents to determine their own voting arrangements on waste issues.

And, feedback urged the Government to allow existing JWAs to take on additional local authority partners or add or take away waste collection, disposal, removal and street cleansing functions where appropriate.

Powers to establish JWAs were introduced by the Government in the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007, which allows two or more local authorities to submit proposals to submit one or more waste function into a statutory body and pool resources to handle waste with neighbouring authorities.

In June, Joan Ruddock called for councils to apply to form statutory JWAs as a number of non-statutory council partnerships currently lack the power to directly employ staff or negotiate contracts with private waste management companies (see letsrecycle.com story).

Consultation

In its own response to the feedback from 83 stakeholders in the waste management sector, Defra stated that its draft guidance would leave it up to constituent authorities in a JWA to agree their own voting procedures.

And, if local authorities wished to express within their own framework that some matters needed to be agreed unanimously and others did not, it was also their choice.

The Department pointed out that the use of unanimous voting in local government is unprecedented, as it could provide authorities with a veto vote and undermine the point of working in a partnership, but that there could be incidents where it could be applicable.

Respondents also asked for flexibility when JWAs wanted to add or remove collection, disposal or street cleansing functions and, Defra stated that it would be appropriate, subject to agreement by all relevant local authorities, local consultation and a clear demonstration of what benefits would arise.

Elsewhere in the consultation, respondents called for a requirement that proposed collection-only JWAs in two-tier council areas must justify in proposals why involvement of the Waste Disposal Authority (WDA) is not appropriate and outline what work has been done with the WDA.

Feedback

In total, 55 of those who gave feedback offered ways in which additional aims could be added to the draft documents, such as including wider issues/customer needs, local accountability, common strategies and planning framework and, the improvement of performance in waste management options and environmental impact. The environmental impact was picked out as a key aim by 20 of the respondents.

Nineteen of the respondents to the three-month consultation stated that they did not agree with the formation of JWAs, and some said that there needed to be a JWA precept to Council Tax or increased democratic accountability.

Somewhat more critically, six respondents stated that they did not believe that JWAs were necessary to achieve the Government's objective of further integration into the waste services or that existing waste partnership models were adequate.

Defra has allocated £500,000 towards the development of JWAs in 2008-09, with the draft regulations showing what information should be included when proposing to establish a JWA and guidance that outlines what proposals should seek to achieve and what factors authorities looking to form a partnership should take into account.

The first statutory JWAs are expected to be established by 2010, after all expressions of interest and supporting information is received by the Secretary of State before March 31 2009.

Defra said: “The Government will now review the draft guidance and amend it where appropriate. It is intended that the Regulations will come into force in the autumn. The final guidance will be published at the same time.”