The Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs says that it recognises that councils need to know how the funds will be available as soon as possible. This is because the local authorities will need to include the money in planning budgets for the next two to three years with the 17% overall recycling target due to be achieved in 2003.
One option in the consultation paper is expected to be for a bidding round, which could be similar to the old system where local authorities bid for supplementary credit approvals (SCAs) to pay for recycling equipment such as kerbside containers.
Councils are concerned that the money should be given out in part in the next financial year and that unless DEFRA gets its consultation document out soon, decisions will not be made in time for 2001/2002. Any delays will then have a knock-on effect in reaching targets for 2003 and 2005.
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