Our commitment to tackling the causes and consequences of climate change will see an extra £93 million over three years invested in enhanced recycling services
Andrew Davies
The money, to be delivered over the next three years from April 2008, comes within the environment, sustainability and housing portion of the “One Wales” Budget, which totals £734 million, £754 million and £772 million over the next three years.
Following three months of consultation over a draft Budget for Wales, Mr Davies confirmed: “Our commitment to tackling the causes and consequences of climate change will see an extra £93 million over three years invested in enhanced recycling services.”
The minister said one of the main aims of this Welsh Budget was to deliver consistency of services throughout Welsh local authorities.
He said: “We have listened to those in local government who share our agenda for improving the quality and consistency of services across Wales, ending the postcode lottery, where standards vary greatly and delivering better value for the Welsh pound.”
The Budget will be debated and voted on by the Welsh Assembly on January 22, after the Assembly's finance committee has looked at the document today (January 17).
In his letter to the finance committee, Mr Davies pledged that if Welsh local authorities incurred new costs as a result of waste management targets, they would be fully funded. “The Government continues to accept that where new requirements are placed on local government that entail additional costs, the cost of these new requirements should be fully funded, either through the Revenue Support Grant or specific grants where appropriate.
“Where such costs have been identified as a result of One Wales commitments, for example in relation to reliverying commitments on waste management or cutting class sizes for 3 to 7 year olds, these costs have been fully funded,” he said.
Targets
Commenting on the £93 million extra funding, environment minister Jane Davidson said Wales was “clearly ahead” of its targets for recycling, with an average 27.6% municipal waste recycling rate in 2006/07, ahead of the 25% national target.
She said: “I am pleased that our waste priorities will benefit from an additional £90million over the next three years which will help dramatically to increase the amount of waste that is recycled or composted.
“There are clear benefits to managing waste better through recycling, composting and creating renewable energy. We not only reduce the amount of waste put into landfill but also reduce Wales's carbon footprint,” the minister added.
Overall, Welsh local authority funding is set to rise on average by 2.4%, slightly above the current rate of inflation in the UK of 2.1% as measured by the consumer price index, but below the 4% inflation as measured by the retail price index.
Despite the increase in recycling funding, local authorities in Wales said council services generally are being squeezed by a “tight” Budget, and threatened service cuts.
“Unrealistic”
The Welsh Local Government Association was relieved that the announced spending levels would be above the 2% increase “floor” it had lobbied for, but nevertheless, described yesterday's Budget as “window dressing”.
The Association said it was the “worst local government settlement since devolution”, and added that spending levels announced were “totally unrealistic to deal with the scale of problems that councils face”.
Councillor Meryl Gravell, WLGA Presiding Officer said: “This budget may be the product of a tight Westminster settlement but it is also the result of the wrong strategic choices by the government in Cardiff. The WLGA produced a realistic alternative to the Assembly Government budget proposals but sadly these have been ignored.”
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