Conclusions and recommendations
1. We
criticised the Government for making a "half-hearted tilt
in the direction of charging" householders directly for the
collection of their rubbish. It has since, in the face of highly
negative media coverage, mounted a wholehearted retreat from even
the limited policy outlined last May. (Paragraph 5)
2. Given the range
of experience that already exists within our EU neighbour states,
we question how much additional information can be gained by operating
a mere five pilot schemes by 2012 in England. (Paragraph 7)
3. We do not believe
that allowing only five of England's waste collection authorities
to introduce schemes, covering four different collection methods,
in a mixture of rural and urban settings, and across the whole
country, will provide significant additional evidence on which
to judge whether all authorities should be able to offer such
schemes. (Paragraph 7)
4. We remain to be
convinced that incentive, or charging, schemes, either as currently
conceived or as outlined in the Waste Strategy, would work well
in England, but we agree with the Minister for Waste that "we
should not be so afraid of being able to deliver a proper scheme".
(Paragraph 8)
5. We repeat what
we said six months ago: it is hard to see why any council will
want to set up a complicated charging scheme that earns it no
money and risks widespread public disapproval. The Government's
decision to seek only five councils appears to reflect the understandable
reluctance of local authorities to do so. (Paragraph 11)
6. Under the Government's
initial proposals, any local authority operating a financial incentive
scheme would have carried the costs of setting up, administering
and enforcing it. For the five pilot schemes, those costs may
be paid out of the £1.5 million a year the Government is
providing. As such support is unlikely to be available to councils
in the event of any national roll-out, we recommend that reports
back to Parliament on the pilots fully reflect the impact those
costs would have had on council budgets and services had the five
pilot authorities been required to pay them themselves. (Paragraph
13)
7. The decision to
limit the number of schemes to just five, none starting before
April 2009, all running for three years before Parliament is asked
to decide on a national roll-out, means that financial incentive
schemes will have no discernible effect on local authorities'
duty to meet European Union landfill diversion targets before
penalties fall due in 2010 and 2013. (Paragraph 14)
8. The decision to
cap the amounts that local authorities may offer their residents
as incentives, or charge them, runs counter to the Government's
rhetoric on devolution and local decision making. (Paragraph
16)
9. We believe that
the Government is over-optimistic about the impact charging will
have on householders who find themselves paying more for a service
many believe they pay for already through council tax. (Paragraph
20)
10. If
the schemes are as successful as the Government hopes, then those
living in the five pilot areas will benefit substantially while
those who live in the vast majority of collection authority areas
will be unfairly prevented from gaining similar benefits. On
the other hand, individuals in the five pilot areas who are required
to pay significant additional charges for their failure to meet
recycling standards that do not apply in neighbouring areas are
likely to feel unfairly singled out. (Paragraph
21)
11. We
agree with the Minister for Local Government that allowing authorities
who wish to administer any recycling incentive schemes through
council tax is welcome and sensible. (Paragraph
24)
12. It is a matter
of considerable concern that the Minister in charge of the financial
incentive pilots appears not to know whether the charges she intends
to introduce are or are not a tax. (Paragraph 25)
13. In
its proposals in the Climate Change Bill, the Government has:
- limited the number
of recycling incentive schemes to just five local authority areas
- capped the amounts
local authorities may offer as incentives or take in charges
- and delayed any possibility of
allowing England-wide schemes before 2012-13.
This represents a comprehensive retreat.
The Government appears to lack the courage of its previous convictions
that local authorities are best placed to decide what will work
in their own areas and that recycling incentive schemes can contribute
towards a genuine, measurable reduction in the volume of waste
being sent to landfill. (Paragraph 26)
14. The
Government's retreat has resulted in a messy compromise that achieves
the worst of both worlds—maximum hostile media coverage
for a set of pilot schemes that will have only limited impact
before EU fines fall due in 2010 and 2013. (Paragraph 27)
15. We
recommend that the Government withdraw its financial incentive
pilot proposals from the Climate Change Bill and reconsider devolving
the power to introduce schemes to local authorities themselves.
They, both in our view and according to the Government's own
rhetoric, are best placed to judge how refuse should be collected
and whether local residents should be asked to gain incentives
by increasing their recycling or to pay additional charges if
they do not. (Paragraph 27)
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