Paul Bettison to leave LGA environment post

Cllr Porter, who is also an executive member of the LGA's Conservative group, and a member of the body's strategy and finance policy group, has been initially appointed to the post – which will see him lobby on waste and recycling issues – for a year.

His appointment comes as Cllr Bettison ends his three-year tenure as chair of the environment board, having taken over in 2006. He now becomes chair of the Local Authorities Coordinators of Regulatory Services, the LGA arm responsible for supporting councils in relation to services such as trading standards and environmental protection.

Cllr Porter has already served on the LGA's environment board, as well as being involved in its rural commission. His first environment board meeting as chair is scheduled to take place in London on September 14.

He has served as a councillor in South Holland since 2001, and was elected as leader of the rural Lincolnshire local authority in 2003.

While many Lincolnshire councils figure very highly in the English league table for household waste recycling and composting rates, South Holland ranked 234th out of 394 in 2007/08, with a 31.1% rate.

As portfolio holder at the council for strategic housing, community leadership and pathfinder, Cllr Porter revealed on the LGA's website that he was interested in waste and recycling.

“My main areas of service interest are housing and waste issues, although just about everything else comes across my desk at some point of the year,” he said.

Public face

In his role as chair of the LGA's environment board, Cllr Porter will be expected to act as the association's public face in relation to a number of waste and recycling-related areas it is currently campaigning on.

These include its repeated calls for the Treasury to return landfill tax to councils (see letsrecycle.com story) and its campaign for retailers to reduce packaging (see letsrecycle.com story).