London Waste Board launches 2010 business plan

At a special launch event at Glaziers House in Central London, the Board gave a breakdown of the waste and recycling infrastructure, campaigns and initiatives it hopes to support over the next 12 months using its £84 million funding pot.

At the forefront is £19 million earmarked for thermal treatment facilities, £8 million to develop a London-wide reuse network and £5 million being ring fenced to help research, deliver and promote recycling in flatted accommodation, which provide 40% of municipal waste produced in the capital.

The 27-page document identifies the need to develop waste treatment infrastructure in London in order to prevent a projected capacity shortfall of three million tonnes by 2015, and was launched just days after the Board made a fresh call for applicants for funding (see letsrecycle.com story).

James Cleverly, chair of the Board, said: “This business plan represents the starting gun of what is going to be a really exciting year. It is going to be, as I have said before, the year of delivery for the London Waste and Recycling Board.”

Mr Cleverly identified last month that the Board would look to allocate £28 million to a pool of 20 projects over the course of 2010/11, with the hopes of bringing seven to realisation (see letsrecycle.com story).

Breakdown of funding

Spend area	Number of facilities	Funding allocation (£m)
JESSICA – European match-funding	Multiple	18
MRF	3	12
Anaerobic Digestion/Advanced Anaerobic Digestion	2	6
Thermal	2	19.5
MBT/MHT	2	2.5
Campaigns	1	6.5
Reuse	1	8
Flats	Multiple	5
Community	Multiple	1
Fund management	Multiple	5.5
Total		84

Allocation

Despite the proposed funding allocation, Andy Holdcroft, chief operating officer for the Board, stressed that it was important for applicants to attempt to secure money from other avenues as well in order to improve its chances of delivering the project.

“Of course, £84 million seems like a lot of money but if we set up as the sole partner to one project with all that funding, then it wouldn't get us very far,” he said.

Mr Holdcroft explained that the economic downturn had somewhat slowed private investment appetite for waste projects and said that it was hard to secure private debt for projects worth less than £25 million, which made it important for applicants to investigate all potential funding routes.

Looking ahead, Mr Holdcroft said that September and October would be a “quite important time for us”, in that the Board will look to have developed a map outlining waste arisings, locations and heat and power networks in the capital.

This would be in addition to publishing updated information on commercial and industrial waste arisings in the city and also, potentially, securing a second round of funding from Defra and the London Development Agency.

Defended

At the event, Wayne Hubbard, head of business development at LWaRB, defended the delivery of funding by the Board to date and said that “you shouldn't judge a book by its cover”. He said: “The progress has been steady and if we look at the figures, we have delivered programmes.”

Mr Hubbard added that the Board had today issued £500,000 to Croydon-based charity Bioregional aimed at setting up sustainable enterprises and partnerships, making it the fourth project to receive funding since the Board was created in September 2008.

The Board had previously been criticised by London councils over the funding emphasis being on partnership working, although no concerns were raised about the rate that funds were being distributed (see letsrecycle.com story).