Clause 4 - Allocation of landfill allowances
Waste and Emissions Trading Bill [Lords]
3:15 pm
Mr David Drew (Stroud, Labour/Co-operative)
I am delighted to serve under your chairmanship, Miss Begg. Following on from the hon. Member for Lewes (Norman Baker), I should like to ask the Minister about the planning process, principally through the waste strategy plans that each authority has to put in place. It is a matter for which he does not have responsibility but it is crucial to the way in which the Bill will operate.
I can speak only through my own experience in Gloucestershire, where I gave evidence for the waste plan. The idea was that the six district authorities would work with the county authority to produce an all-singing, all-dancing, cohesive plan, which would have major implications for recycling and for waste disposal in general.
I would have spoken about this on Second Reading if there had been more time, although I alluded to it. Is
it possible to move to a system in which, as the hon. Member for Lewes said, one authority cannot dump, metaphorically and literally, on another? If not, the whole strategy will begin to unravel. I am particularly interested in how we can give every encouragement to two-tier authorities to work together so that targets are not just set, but delivered. We all know that waste does not necessarily remain in the area where it was collected; it moves on. Perhaps the Minister can tell us how we can get that greater degree of cohesion and how, without having to use the stick, we can ensure that instead of just speaking warmly about their waste plans, authorities get their act together and adhere to them.