Environment secretary Caroline Spelman has written to councils warning them that the guidance which has allegedly been used by some local authorities to justify carrying out unannounced waste audits is “outdated”, it has emerged.
In her letter, which was sent to bodies including the Local Government Association yesterday (July 21), Mrs Spelman referred to a story in Tuesday's (July 20) Daily Mail which claimed councils had been using guidance from 2004 entitled ‘Waste Compositional Analysis, Guidance for Local Authorities' to justify what it said were “covert” inspections of waste.
The new government has made it clear its commitment to defending individual freedoms and protecting the freedoms and liberties which are a rich part of our British tradition
Caroline Spelman, environment secretary
The newspaper also claimed councils were using social profiling techniques to match specific types of waste to specific ethnic groups or households with either high or low incomes.
But, in the letter, Mrs Spelman said: “Further to the article in yesterday's Daily Mail (pa1 and pa2), Council Race Spies Rummage Through Your Bin, I would like to take this opportunity to remind colleagues in local government that the guidance cited in the article on waste compositional studies, namely Waste Compositional Analysis, Guidance for Local Authorities, is now outdated and is no longer current guidance by Defra.”
Her comments were made against the backdrop of continued national media speculation about the increasing role being taken by the department for communities and local government (CLG) – and in particular communities secretary Eric Pickles – in waste and recycling policy.
Newspapers including The Telegraph (July 21) have claimed that Defra officials are “alarmed” by Mr Pickles' outspoken statements on waste and recycling, and that there is an “escalating battle” between CLG and Defra over who should take the lead on waste.
Letter
Last month, the coalition government revealed that it would be undertaking a full review of existing waste policy to gauge whether or not it was fit for the task of achieving its goal of a ‘zero waste nation' (see letsrecycle.com story).
This was referred to by Mrs Spelman in her letter, where she explained that all waste guidance would be reviewed as part of the process, but told councils that “in the meantime” Defra favoured incentives rather than penalties.
She added that it also favoured “helping households to recycle as much as possible rather than coercing them or engaging in activity which could reasonably be understood as encroaching on individual privacies and liberties.”
To emphasise this point, she also wrote: “The new government has made it clear its commitment to defending individual freedoms and protecting the freedoms and liberties which are a rich part of our British tradition.”
While the Local Government Association confirmed that it had received the letter this morning (July 22), a spokesman said it had no comment to make at this point.
Benn
Meanwhile, Mrs Spelman's predecessor as environment secretary, Hilary Benn, today criticised the alleged rift between CLG and Defra, and told The Guardian that “if it wasn't so serious, it might be funny”.
Mr Benn, who is now shadow environment secretary, questioned Mr Pickles' claims that the previous Labour administration had been forcing councils to introduce alternate weekly collections and was planning to fine householders for not recycling enough.
He also said claimed that Mr Pickles faced “three problems”: waste policy not being a CLG responsibility; it being “crazy” for government to try to tell councils how to collect waste; and, the need to meet the “big challenge” posed by having to divert more waste from landfill, recycle more and turn more into energy.
The full text of Mrs Spelman's letter is reproduced below:
Dear…
Further to the article in yesterday's Daily Mail (pa1 and pa2), Council Race Spies Rummage Through Your Bin, I would like to take this opportunity to remind colleagues in local government that the guidance cited in the article on waste compositional studies, namely Waste Compositional Analysis, Guidance for Local Authorities, is now outdated and is no longer current guidance by Defra.
The new Government has made clear its commitment to defending individual freedoms and protecting the freedoms and liberties which are a rich part of our British tradition.
My department will be undertaking a thorough review of all waste guidance issued as part of our waste review, but in the meantime I would remind you that my department favours incentives rather than penalties and helping households to recycle as much as possible rather than coercing them or engaging in activity which could reasonably be understood as encroaching on individual privacies and liberties.
Yours sincerely
Rt Hon Caroline Spelman MP
Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
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