And, the department has published guidance for the regulations, specifying what councils looking to form one of the new statutory bodies should include in their applications, and the information that must accompany a proposal.
A proposal for a joint waste authority should seek to modernise and improve waste services through the integration of services across the area to achieve efficiencies for member authorities while ensuring quality of service for residents
Defra JWA guidance
In a list published yesterday, the department detailed seven groups of councils who have shown interest in forming Joint Waste Authorities (JWAs) since the then-waste and recycling minister, Joan Ruddock, wrote to all local authorities in June 2008 inviting them to submit non-committal expressions of interest in forming one of the bodies (see letsrecycle.com story).
The powers for councils to form Joint Waste Authorities were originally proposed in January 2007 (see letsrecycle.com story), in response to the fact that non-statutory waste partnerships that had been formed by councils lacked the power to either directly employ staff or jointly enter into contracts with private waste management companies.
The groups of councils who have submitted expressions of interest are as follows:
• Reading borough council, Bracknell Forest borough council and Wokingham borough council
• Three Rivers district council, Watford borough council and Hertsmere borough council
• Cheltenham borough council, Cotswold district council, Forest of Dean borough council, Gloucester city council, Stroud district council, Tewkesbury borough council and Gloucestershire county council
• Aylesbury Vale district council, Buckinghamshire county council, Chiltern district council, South Buckingham district council and Wycombe district council
• West Devon borough council, South Hams district council and Teignbridge district council
• Christchurch borough council, East Dorset district council, North Dorset district council, Purbeck district council, West Dorset district council, Weymouth and Portland borough council and Dorset county council
• Forest Heath district council and St Edmundsbury borough council
The councils will now have the opportunity to submit formal applications to the secretary of state for the environment, Hilary Benn, to form a JWA after February 18, when the regulations, 'Joint Waste Authorities (Proposals) 2008', come into force.
Guidance
If interested parties decide to pursue an application, they will be expected to follow the guidance published yesterday (January 28), which outlines what a proposal to form a JWA should seek to achieve, and the matters councils should bear in mind when they are putting a proposal together.
The guidance, which was based on responses to a government consultation on the plans which was undertaken last year (see letsrecycle.com story), outlines what goals a JWA should seek to achieve.
The guidance states: “A proposal for a joint waste authority should seek to modernise and improve waste services through the integration of services across the area to achieve efficiencies for member authorities while ensuring quality of service for residents.
“Proposals should also show how the joint waste authority will deliver environmental benefits and contribute to the wider sustainability and carbon reduction agenda,” it adds.
And, it specifies that any JWA will need to maintain or improve its performance against LATS goals, as well as the quality of its waste management services and responsiveness to issues such as litter.
Proposal
The document specifies the legislative changes that allow a JWA to be formed, and goes on to detail the information councils should include in a proposal.
This includes: the name of the JWA; the date of establishment; a specified area; the waste functions that will be transferred to the new body; how member councils will be represented; the first meeting date; voting procedures; staffing issues; how the body will be funded; how it will discharge it's members Recycling Credit responsibilities; its borrowing powers; and, how any transfer of assets and liabilities will work.
Among the other information that prospective JWAs are told they must include are: details of what waste functions each member council currently hold; reasons for excluding a waste disposal authority from any application (the government favours JWA applications from two-tier areas); details of the consultation that prospective JWAs must hold on their plans; the specifics of any contracts members intend to transfer to the JWA; any former experience they have of joint-working; how the members plan to deal with joint responsibility for any LATS penalties or fines they face as a JWA; how they plan to deal with any PFI credits a member holds; any anticipated cost savings, environmental benefits; how the contract will affect waste management services; and, plans for a communications strategy.
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