Order published to create London Recycling Board

The Order dictates the board's composition, procedures and auditing guidelines for the allocation of £84 million towards new waste management projects in the capital.

The move comes in the wake of London Mayor Boris Johnson agreeing to take the role of chair, something his predecessor Ken Livingstone had refused to do (see letsrecycle.com story), calling for the formation of a Single Waste Authority for London instead.

In his mayoral election campaign Mr Johnson had pledged that he would work more closely with London boroughs to tackle waste, as well as allocating £24 million in funds from the London Development Agency to complement the work of the Board, which is already set for £60 million in funding provision.

Members

The Order explains that the Board will be chaired by the Mayor or a representative of his choosing, with the remaining seven seats comprised of four elected members of any London borough council and three independent members, two of whom will be appointed by the London councils and another by the Mayor. All members, with the exception of the mayor, will serve a four year term.

It is likely that the four borough members will consist of four councillors (2 Conservative, 1 Labour and 1 Liberal Democrat) who were appointed in April to a shadow Board, which has been set up to help get the project off the ground. Two non-borough members have also been chosen.

The councillors provide representation from across London and are expected to hold a meeting before the Board is officially set up to decide how it will operate and what sort of staffing it should have.

As for the Mayor's independent member, the Greater London Authority has started inviting applications from candidate who will be expected to “ensure the sound and effective running of the LWaRB by bringing their independent and sound judgement to bear on issues of strategy, performance and investment of resources”.

Transparency

According to the Order, the Board will have to be as transparent as possible. Most importantly, it must publish a strategy by March 31 each year, setting out its intentions for the next 12 months.

This includes its priorities and method for disbursing any funds at its disposal. In the first year – as the Board has not been established by this deadline – the board must develop its strategy before they can award any grants.

London Councils has already researched the priorities of London's waste authorities as a foundation to the strategy development, and The Government Office for London has held stakeholder events.

The Board will also be obliged to produce an annual report for London borough councils, the Common Council and the Secretary of State each year detailing how it allocated funding and functioned over the previous financial year.

Board meeetings will also be open to the public, except when items are deemed to be addressing confidential information.

Next steps

The Order to create the Waste and Recycling Board was laid before Parliament on June 11, and is set to go before a General Committee in the House of Commons for approval on July 2, and a Grand Committee in the House of Lords on July 8.

After this, the Board will be officially created under the The Greater London Authority (GLA) Act 2007.

The long term goal is for the Board to allocate the £84 million over three years to waste projects in the capital, to help London reach its aim of managing 85% of the waste it creates by 2020.