Hampshire’s Project Integra flounders amid massive row

The 11-year-old partnership is one of the best-known local authority waste partnerships in the country and has gained Beacon Status for its achievements, reaching a recycling rate for the county of 27% in 2003/04.

“We are disappointed that Project Integra seems to have lost its way in not driving forward effectively on the future recycling agenda.”
– Alison Quant, Hampshire CC

In a decision described by some local authorities today as a “bombshell”, the county council revealed yesterday it is considering quitting the partnership of 14 councils over what it sees as a “lack of shared vision over the purpose of Project Integra”.

Hampshire’s decision was revealed at the quarterly meeting of the management board yesterday afternoon after councillors asked all officers to leave the room. If Hampshire does leave the partnership, it could leave the surviving Project Integra in some disarray.

Speaking to letsrecycle.com today, the county council’s director of environment, Alison Quant, said that while the Project Integra partnership continued to be “very important”, Hampshire believes the partnership’s current Board is not the right vehicle to drive it forward.

Ms Quant, said: “We were instrumental in setting up Project Integra in 1994 and have put a great deal of effort into its successes. We are disappointed that it seems to have lost its way in not driving forward effectively on the future recycling agenda.”

“The strength of Integra has been that all councils have the opportunity to influence the way we deal with waste in the widest sense.”
– Cllr Roland Dibbs, Project Integra

Performance
Hampshire county council achieved a 27% recycling rate for its household waste in 2003/04, but this was only two percentage points higher than its performance in 2002/03. The county believes some collection authorities and fellow members of Project Integra have not been pulling their weight in terms of recycling.

Responding to Hampshire’s comments, the Board of Project Integra said it “very much” regretted that Hampshire county council is considering withdrawal from the “successful” partnership.

Cllr Roland Dibbs, chairman of the Project Integra Management Board, said: “The strength of Integra has been that all councils have the opportunity to influence the way we deal with waste in the widest sense. We have been successful because we have worked towards common goals in a joined up way. Key decisions are made over one table. What one authority does has a knock on effect on the others and we clearly need to work together.

“I am keen to resolve any differences for the benefit of Project Integra and the residents of Hampshire,” Cllr Dibbs added.

Board
Some experts have suggested personality clashes may have entered into the debate, while the timing of Hampshire’s announcement may not entirely be a coincidence with the rapidly approaching General Election.

However, Ms Quant said a significant issue at stake was that despite the overwhelming amount of resources Hampshire puts into the Project Integra partnership compared to fellow members, the county council only has one seat on the Board.

She said Hampshire was proud of setting up the partnership in 1994, but that current management arrangements were “hampering progress” and the loose partnership arrangement was a “relic of the past”.

“I don’t think the board has got to grips with the issues,” she said. “People turn up and talk, but nothing happens. They’re keen to talk about things like plastic bags without looking at the bigger picture.”

However, Steve Read, executive officer for Project Integra, said that the one member one vote arrangement, which has been in place since 2001, has been a key strength of recent successes, which have included securing 12 million in grants from Defra to boost recycling services.

Plan
Another key issue of concern to Hampshire has been the development of a five year business plan. Up until now Project Integra has run with an annual plan, which has sometimes been out-of-date by the time it has been completed.

Some of the issues that have featured in the new five year plan are where the Project is aiming to go, the materials that need to be catered for and the infrastructure needed.

The county council has said if the withdrawal is carried through, it will continue to work with the waste collection authorities and with Portsmouth and Southampton city councils on waste matters. But, it said current partnership arrangements “are hampering progress”.

Ms Quant said that government is now talking about removing waste responsibility from local authorities at a district/borough level, and that the future could see all waste services being run by counties in two-tier areas. “This is the next step for somewhere like Hampshire,” she said.

There are hopes that even if Hampshire was to leave, the Project would survive with Onyx in place and much of the infrastructure now in place.

There are hopes that Hampshire may return to the table. Should it not do so, questions may well be asked about funding allocations from Defra and the Waste and Resources Action Programme, which have been given to the county and districts on the understanding that they work together on a partnership basis.