MPs slam government’s “retreat” over waste charging plans

An influential group of MPs has said the government should abandon its plans to test out a handful of household recycling schemes – and instead give all councils the power to charge non-recyclers, writes James Cartledge.

In a report published this morning, Parliament's Communities and Local Government Select Committee called Defra's plans to pilot household charging and reward schemes for recycling “a messy compromise”.

It said the government's plans would achieve “the worst of both worlds-maximum hostile media coverage for a set of pilot schemes that will have only limited impact before EU fines fall due in 2010 and 2013”.

The report followed the Committee's inquiry held last autumn, which examined Defra's proposals as contained within the Climate Change Bill. The proposals suggest that five local authorities will try out up to four different kinds of household incentive scheme to promote recycling.

With the Climate Change Bill yet to receive scrutiny by the House of Commons, any pilot is unlikely to see the light of day before April 2009, and experts believe a General Election expected before 2010 could even affect this date.

The Committee's main criticisms of the Defra incentives plan published today included the limiting of pilots to five local authorities and the capping of any charges local authorities might use.

It also warned that delaying nationwide incentive schemes beyond 2012 would not help councils meet their EU Landfill Directive targets in 2010 and 2013.

The Committee, which is led by Labour backbencher Phyllis Starkey, concluded: “We recommend that the Government withdraw its financial incentive pilot proposals from the Climate Change Bill and reconsider devolving the power to introduce schemes to local authorities themselves.”

Inquiry

The CLG Committee's inquiry into incentive schemes followed on closely from the report it published on refuse collections in July 2007.

Reporting back today, Dr Starkey said that in the intervening period between her committee's two waste collection inquiries, the government's plans to encourage householders financially to recycle appeared to have worsened.

Dr Starkey said: “In our earlier report we criticised the Government for making a half-hearted tilt in the direction of charging householders directly for the collection of their rubbish. It has since, in the face of highly negative media coverage, mounted a wholehearted retreat from even the limited policy outlined last May.”

While criticising the government for “timidity” concerning bin charging, however, in many respects the Committee was not entirely clear in its own views on waste charging.

It sat firmly on the fence on whether to actually charge or not, stating: “We remain to be convinced that incentive, or charging, schemes, either as currently conceived or as outlined in the Waste Strategy, would work well in England, but we agree with the Minister for Waste that 'we should not be so afraid of being able to deliver a proper scheme'.”

Looking at the possible level of waste charges, the Committee warned that “the comparatively small sums likely to be offered by incentive schemes may prove disappointing”. However, a few paragraphs later in the report, the Committee cast doubt on the fairness of setting charges for waste collection, stating: “We believe that the government is over-optimistic about the impact charging will have on householders who find themselves paying more for a service many believe they pay for already through council tax.

While questioning whether five pilots was enough evidence to test out incentive schemes, the Committee also suggested that pilots may not be needed at all, the number of examples of financial incentives that are already in operation in the rest of Europe.

However, the committee's conclusions were that the power to charge should be available for local authorities at large, with the decision to use such powers left to those local authorities.

“They, both in our view and according to the government's own rhetoric, are best placed to judge how refuse should be collected and whether local residents should be asked to gain incentives by increasing their recycling or to pay additional charges if they do not,” the Committee said.

Local authorities

The Committee's report received a warm welcome from the local government sector, which has been lobbying for government to give councils the power to charge non-recyclers.

Cllr Paul Bettison, who chairs the Local Government Association's environment board, said the report “rightly points out that it is only councils, in consultation with local people, who can decide the best system for collecting waste and boosting recycling rates”.

“Although pilot schemes are a step in the right direction, the power should be there for all councils to reward hard working families who do their bit for the environment. The Government should bring forward amendments to the Climate Change Bill to give councils the power to introduce incentive schemes, as the Committee has recommended,” Cllr Bettison added.

The LGA stressed that evidence from continental Europe shows that incentive schemes “can reduce waste and boost recycling”, and warned of the £3 billion in fines that Council Taxpayers could face if landfill rates do not fall dramatically.

“If councils introduce incentive schemes, it will be to promote recycling, not to generate extra cash through an extra stealth tax,” Cllr Bettison insisted. “There will be parts of the country where financial incentive schemes are not appropriate, and the final decision must be made by local councils in response to local need and in consultation with local people.”

Opposition parties also lined up behind the CLG report, with Liberal Democrat Shadow Communities and Local Government Secretary, Julia Goldsworthy saying: “Instead of ambition we have a half-hearted proposal from the government. These pilot schemes have been wrapped up in so much red tape and complexity that their chance of success was impossibly slim. The Government may as well have condemned the proposals to the rubbish bin.

“Instead of hiding behind a messy compromise, the Government should either admit it has backed down on waste charging or allow every local authority to decide the best way to encourage more recycling in its area,” said Ms Goldsworthy.