Mayor Ken Livingstone ordered West London Waste Authority to produce a waste strategy yesterday, taking account of the environmental impact and public views on its services (see letsrecycle.com story). The Authority had missed the September 2004 deadline for London waste authorities to submit waste strategies to the Mayor.
But the Authority now claims to be working to the deadline set by the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs for disposal authority strategies, for which it believes it is “well ahead of schedule”.
Mike Nichols of West London Waste said: “Defra expects a statement from all authorities on the position of their waste strategies by April 2005. We expect to have our waste strategy completed by May next year, by then we will almost be complete let alone able to offer a statement.”
Meeting
He said that full consideration would be given to the Mayor's direction when the Authority meets in early December.
Mr Nichols added that documents and plans such as the Authority's waste strategy take time to put together, especially when working alongside new and changing legislations. He said: “It would be imprudent to ignore the Waste and Emissions Trading Act and it would also be imprudent not to wait for the statutory guidance from Defra when putting something like this together.”
The waste authority said that the Mayor's comments would certainly be taken on board by the authority. Mr Nichols said that the Mayor's municipal waste management strategy will be a very important influence on the West London strategy.
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