Clause 5 - Alteration of allocations under section 4
Waste and Emissions Trading Bill [Lords]
4:15 pm
Mr Michael Meacher (Minister of State (the Environment), Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Oldham West and Royton, Labour)
I am happy to accept that. It is important that we enable waste disposal authorities to understand, in preparing their long-term plans—which
we are keen that they do—that as long as they meet the targets, and are not going to exceed the amount sent to landfill beyond their allocations, their position will be as secure as we can possibly make it. It is not set in stone, and we would have to draft the guidance carefully to suggest that it is possible to envisage circumstances in which some change might be required, but we regard those as exceptional. That should not deter authorities from the main purpose, which is to build a carefully prepared long-term plan.