LARAC has expressed extreme disappointment at the announcement from DCLG that it is to press ahead with legislation restricting local authorities’ choices for managing HWRCs. LARAC is concerned that consultation submissions have been ignored and questions if the Government had any intention to listen to the concerns of the industry. LARAC points out that the result of this legislation means local authorities will have greater restrictions on how they balance budgets with a greater possibility of services being cut.
Lee Marshall, Chief Executive Officer LARAC, said “The Government response to the consultation submissions is very disappointing and appears to cherry-pick the bits it wants from the responses to uphold its stance. The fact that there was no clear majority view shows that LARAC was right in suggesting roundtable discussion with Government to take the matter forward. The fact this offer has not even been acknowledged, along with the undue haste with which this has been railroaded through, gives the impression that this was a consultation in name only.”
LARAC states that just because there is the ability to charge it does not mean it will be taken up by local authorities on a wide basis. LARAC also reiterates the fact that the current legislation means all waste disposal authorities are required to and do provide free to use HWRCs in their area.
LARAC questions the justification given by the Government that it had undertaken a thorough consultation because they had an article in a national newspaper. LARAC believes that this falls short of the levels of consultation that local authorities would be expected to undertake and that they demonstrated they do undertake in the recent CIWM AEA Ricardo austerity report. LARAC says that the fact the document states the Government wrote to the ‘Environmental Standards Agency’, an organisation that does not exist, implies that consultation process was not robust.
