Red faces in council over landfill fiasco

Feb 25 2008 by Adrian Pearson, The Journal

A “RUBBISH” decision rushed into by council staff after advice from the Government could see more than £1m in taxpayers’ money go to waste.

North Tyneside Mayor John Harrison will have to set aside the cash after a plan to avoid landfill fines backfired.

The problem started in 2004, when the council was given landfill targets by the Government and told if they went over the limit and dumped too much rubbish they would be fined £150 a tonne.

The scheme was supposed to deter councils from using environmentally unfriendly landfills and force more recycling.

But officers told North Tyneside councillors the amount sent to landfill was set to rise by 2004 and the Government would hand out a £2.5m fine when the scheme starts next year.

To avoid this, finance bosses decided to buy extra landfill allowances from other councils whose recycling record meant they would be well below their target. However, since the permit buy-up, residents in North Tyneside have taken to recycling in their thousands.

And while this is good news for the environment, it has led to some red faces for the council.

In a report prepared by Graham Bainbridge, the council’s business management service admitted they are unlikely to find a buyer for the waste permits.

In March next year the council will no longer be allowed to sell on the permits and officers have had to set aside £1.025m to cover the budget gap.

Councillors are now demanding to know why their officers “rushed into the decision” to spend cash on the Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme (LATS).

Michael McIntyre, chair of the finance sub-committee, said if the LATS had been handled properly the council could have made money. The Conservative councillor said: “There was a point between agreeing to buy the LATS and the purchase where we could have paused to re-evaluate things and see the growth in recycling.

“And then came the point, once we had bought them, where we could have sold them for a profit.

“Their value had risen and it was becoming clear we would not use them. Now, unfortunately, we are stuck with these, looking like the patsy holding the booby prize.

“And while £1m is not a lot in the grand scheme of things, there are plenty of areas where the council is cutting back, such as adult social care which faces a £1.3m shortfall.” Last night Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the Taxpayers’ Alliance, said: “Tax-payers in North Tyneside have seen council tax bills go through the roof in recent years and many people struggle to pay the amount the council demands. People will be shocked to learn that a supposedly cash-strapped council which has been cutting essential services has so freely wasted money on unused landfill sites.

“It should not take a planning genius to realise that if you spend large amounts of money encouraging recycling you should not also spend millions expanding your landfill sites.”

A North Tyneside Council spokesman said: “Through the purchase of the LATS permits we protected the council and its taxpayers from a huge financial penalty.

“Following advice from Defra-appointed consultants we bought their recommended number of permits at a cost of £1.1m.

“It was through the permits’ use that we avoided a fine of more than £2m.

“Thanks to the fantastic recycling efforts of people on North Tyneside and through negotiating an improved waste disposal contract, we no longer need the remaining permits and have placed them for sale.”

A Defra spokesperson said: “It’s up to local councils themselves to determine and manage their own waste disposal planning.”

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