The chair of the Conservative Environment Network has fought back against government criticism of a report by published by his organisation which backed fortnightly collection, branding comments by local government minister Bob Neill as “ignorant and immature”.
Former shadow environment secretary and Conservative MP Peter Ainsworth, who set up the network earlier this year to champion green issues, also questioned whether Mr Neill had actually read the report that he was commenting or had even made the comments attributed to him.
The comments attributed to the Minister are ignorant and immature
Peter Ainsworth, chair of CEN
Mr Ainsworth said: “I wonder if my former colleague Bob Neill has actually read the report. In fact, I very much doubt that he wrote the press release. The comments attributed to the minister are ignorant and immature; and I know that he is neither of those things.
“Besides which, waste policy is a matter for Defra, not DCLG [Department of Communities and Local Government],” he added.
Mr Neill had attacked the report, which was compiled by consultancy Eunomia on behalf of the CEN, as “peddling the case for bin taxes and bin cuts” and claimed it was “not worth the recycled paper it is written on” (see letsrecycle.com story).
The report, entitled ‘Cutting Waste – Reducing Costs and Improving Waste and Recycling Services', criticises the government's outspoken support for weekly waste collections, claiming that restricting residual waste collections and capacity can help councils to cut costs and increase recycling (see letsrecycle.com story).
This was alluded to by Mr Ainsworth, who said: “Eunomia are not proposing bin taxes or that refuse services should be cut across the country. They are proposing ways in which local councils can make really very significant savings without reducing the quality of service that residents receive.”
Waste policy review
Mr Ainsworth also went on to question whether the department for communities and local government's (DCLG) reaction to the report meant it was not open to outside input on the ongoing review of England's waste policy. The review is being led by Defra, with input from other departments, including DCLG.
“It is strange that DCLG appears to have dismissed out of hand a report which was intended to feed in to the debate which will be generated by the government's forthcoming Waste Review,” he said. I do hope that DCLG is not approaching the Review with an open mouth and a closed mind.
He added: “Local councils are facing greater cuts than any other part of government. I would have expected the department that represents them to have welcomed a report which shows how some of the necessary savings could be made.”
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