The Bill will have its second reading in Parliament on Monday, but in current form its reforms have a limited scope in the waste sector (see letsreycle.com story).
Mr Tipping told composters: “My offer to you is – let's use the Planning Bill as a platform to discuss the future of the sector. I'd like to use the Bill to attract more investment for the composting industry and to help build the 150 new composting facilities which the UK needs. We need to ensure the industry has certainty that real investment is feasible.”
The Planning Bill takes the decisions away from local authorities instead they will be made on a national level by Infrastructure Planning Commission, a panel of experts that could decide on major infrastructure projects considered to be “nationally significant”.
“Too late”
However, Gaynor Hartnell, director of policy at the Renewable Energy Association, who was chairing the session at the conference, said: “I feel like we have already lost this one. We did lots of lobbying before it came out but it feels like it is too late.”
Speaking to letsrecycle.com during the event, Trelawney Dampney, managing director of Eco Composting Ltd in Poole also questioned the Planning Bill's current form. He said: “The Bill is for fast tracking large infrastructure such as airports and motorways. We need to lower the benchmark to include significant waste management structures such as small in-vessel composters, if the government wants to build the 150 new facilities in the next three years.
Mrs Ruddock – the minister with responsibility for waste and recycling – could not make the event, however Mr Tipping relayed a message from her. He said: “Joan asked me to say that good progress is being made on the waste strategy, compost is an integral part of it and the sector doesn't get the recognition it deserves.
“What the strategy recognises is that composting can add value to soil. What we need to do its to work further on this and to work out how much can our carbon footprint be reduced by using compost,” Mr Tipping added.
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