Meeting documents
Cabinet
Wednesday, 6th December, 2006
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Bath & North East Somerset Council |
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MEETING: |
Council Executive |
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MEETING DATE: |
6th December 2006 |
AGENDA ITEM NUMBER |
14 |
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TITLE: |
West of England Waste Management and Planning Strategy |
EXECUTIVE FORWARD PLAN REFERENCE: |
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E |
1529 |
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WARD: |
All |
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AN OPEN PUBLIC ITEM |
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List of attachments to this report: The Appendices below have been included only in Agendas on display at Public Inspection Sites. They may also be seen in due course on the Council's website: Appendix A: Summary Budget Forecasts Appendix B: Issues and Options Technical Document Appendix C: Draft Joint Residual Municipal Waste Management Strategy Document Appendix D: Consultation and Communications Plan Appendix E: The Strategic Environmental Assessment and Sustainability Appraisal Process Appendix F: Risk Management |
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1 THE ISSUE
1.1 This authority has resolved to enter into a West of England (WoE) partnering arrangement with Bristol City, South Gloucestershire and North Somerset Councils to develop a Joint Residual Municipal Waste Management Strategy (JRMWMS) and Joint Waste Development Plan Document (JWDPD).
1.2 The JWDPD details issues relating to both Municipal Waste and Commercial and Industrial waste in West of England, and identifies sites where this waste will be managed. The JRMWMS details how Municipal Waste only will be managed.
1.3 The Project Board on 24th October 2006 recommended that each Council's Executive approves the documents, plans and reports (appended to this report), to enable the public consultation (currently programmed to take place between January and March 2007) to proceed, and to allow the development of both the JRMWMS and the JWDPD to continue.
1.4 These documents comprise:
Summary Budget Forecasts
Issues and Options documents
Draft Joint Residual Municipal Waste Management Strategy document.
Consultation and Communications Plan
2 RECOMMENDATION
The Council Executive is asked to agree that:
2.1 The Council's apportionment of the summary budget forecasts for the West of England Waste Management and Planning Strategy be submitted into the Service & Financial Planning process, and therefore be subject to further consideration by the Executive in February 2007 and final approval at the February 2007 full Council meeting.
2.2 The proposed apportionment basis for any agreed costs is supported (as detailed in Appendix A).
2.3 The Issues and Options document (Appendix B), including a less technical version, is agreed as a basis for public consultation (subject to minor textual amendments of a technical, factual or updating nature which may be required in order to reflect the decisions made by the other three partner authorities).
2.4 The Draft Joint Residual Municipal Waste Management Strategy (Appendix C) is approved for consultation.
2.5 The Consultation and Communications Plan is agreed (Appendix D).
2.6 The Strategic Environmental Assessment and Sustainability Appraisal process is endorsed (Appendix E).
3 FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
3.1 The Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme places significant financial penalties of £150 per tonne on Waste Disposal Authorities that landfill more waste than they have allowances (permits) for. Local Authorities facing permit deficits may purchase permits from authorities that have surpluses at a price dictated by the market at the time of purchase. The JWDPD will facilitate the delivery of waste treatment capacity for the sub-region to reduce the authorities' financial liability for fines, permit purchase and landfill tax.
3.2 There are economies of scale and efficiencies to be gained from joint, rather than individual working on provision of waste treatment capacity. The total current estimated cost of the overarching JRMWMS, JWDPD and Procurement process projects is £4,614,250, of which this Council's share under the proposed apportionment arrangements is £883,743 over the next four years.
3.3 The indicative summary budget forecasts shown in Appendix A reflect all the anticipated specific costs that have been identified to date for the JRMWMS and JWDPD projects, and are derived from the project planning documents. In respect of the Joint Procurement exercise, some broad cost estimates have also been included to give an indication of the scale of costs that may potentially arise. These indicative costs of procurement have been sourced from 4Ps and other authorities who are going through the procurement process.
3.4 This summary budget has been shared with each authority's Waste & Planning Managers and the relevant service Finance Manager in order to incorporate consideration of each authority's apportionment as part of their respective Service & Financial Planning processes. Discussions between the authorities are on-going, and final decisions will be required in respect of 2007/08 as part of budget setting in February. The figures for future years (in particular in relation to procurement) are indicative only and depend on the further clarification which will be part of the 2007/08 joint work programme.
4 COMMUNITY STRATEGY OUTCOMES
Celebrating the contributions people from different backgrounds and with different experiences can make, and promoting equality of opportunity
Sharing resources, working together, and finding new ways of doing things
Taking responsibility for our environment and natural resources now and over the long term
Improving our local transport
Improving local opportunities for learning and gaining skills
Improving our local economy
Improving our local environment
5 CORPORATE IMPROVEMENT PRIORITIES
Improving the environment for learning
Reducing Landfill
Developing a sustainable economy
Improving customer satisfaction
6 CPA KEY LINES OF ENQUIRY
Ambition for the community - i.e. What the council, together with its partners, is trying to achieve
Prioritisation of ambitions
Increasing capacity of the council to deliver ambition for the Community to ensure we achieve what we say we will
Managing performance of community ambition to ensure we achieve what we say we will
7 THE REPORT
7.1 Introduction
7.1.1 All Waste Disposal Authorities are required to meet their Landfill Allowances so as to avoid incurring significant fines under the Waste Emissions and Trading Act 2003. The authorities comprising the West of England have agreed to work in partnership to develop a Joint Residual Municipal Waste Management Strategy (JRMWMS) and a Joint Waste Development Plan Document (JWDPD) to help determine an Outline Business case for the procurement of future residual waste management facilities. Members will note that that scope of the JWDPD will necessarily include provision for commercial, industrial and other wastes together with council-collected (municipal) waste if it is properly to plan for waste management in the West of England.
7.1.2 The authorities believe that working in Partnership offers economic, environmental and social advantages such as:
Maximising economies of scale;
Minimising environmental impacts;
Minimising transport requirements;
Providing best value for the tax payer.
7.1.3 The preparation of this JRMWMS and JWDPD is informed by the following vision statement:
"The four local authorities in the West of England area are working together to develop, in consultation with local residents and other stakeholders, a range of facilities for the treatment of municipal residual waste.
These will deliver significant reductions in the amount of waste, particularly biodegradable waste, being sent to landfill sites. They will also maximise the efficient recovery of resources and encompass environmental, social and economic factors.
Each local authority will maintain a long term commitment to increase waste reduction, recycling and composting, and will move toward a longer term aim of achieving zero waste."
7.1.4 The development of the JRMWMS and the JWDPD and the subsequent procurement of residual waste management infrastructure is collectively referred to as the West of England Waste Management and Planning Strategy Project.
7.1.5 The proposal is for each authority to `sign-off' a number of key documents in order that the project can proceed in accordance with the programmes set out in the Project Initiation Documents (PIDs) for the JRMWMS and the JWDPD. These Project Initiation Documents were approved by the Partnership Project Board on 24th October 2006.
7.2 Governance and Resources
7.2.1 A Member Project board has been set up that comprises Executive Members responsible for waste and planning issues from each of the partner authorities. Key policy decisions must be referred back to each of the authorities relevant Cabinets or Executives for approval. Budgets are approved by each Council within their respective financial planning processes.
7.2.2 Each authority has confirmed its intention to prepare a Joint Waste Development Plan Document and to revise its Local Development Scheme. These decisions have been taken through appropriate Cabinets, Executives and Councils within each of the UA's during recent months.
7.2.3 An outline budget has been prepared in consultation with relevant officers. At its meeting on 26th September 2006 the Project Board recommended that the costs of the project be shared equally during the Strategy and Development Plan process, and apportioned on the basis of residual waste arisings in each authority during the procurement process. These apportionments are reflected in the Summary Budget Forecasts detailed in Appendix A.
7.2.4 Work is underway to determine the level of long-term financial commitment which will be required to deliver the project in its entirety including the need for additional internal and external specialist expertise and staff resources. Finalised budgets will be presented in the Service plan.
7.2.5 The Executive is being asked to agree to endorse a range of documents which are essential and/or statutory components of the process to secure a Joint RMWMS and Joint Waste DPD. They follow on from the decision that all four authorities have already taken to work in partnership. This must include agreement on arrangements to share the costs of commissioning advisors/consultants and other work associated with the development of the JRMWMS and JWDPD. Hitherto this has been limited to the individual authorities' delegations to their respective Chief Officers. Beyond these, any decisions or incurring any expenditure will require Executive member authority under whatever delegation principles that authority operates.
7.2.6 In respect of the Joint Residual Municipal Waste Management Strategy, the present partnering structure is only substantial enough to manage the preparatory stages of the project. Assuming the four authorities decide to proceed with some sort of joint implementation or procurement, this will require a further decision of each authority to proceed with the project, to establish a more rigorous structure to function as their joint client and to commit funds. It would not be possible at that stage to proceed with joint solutions unless the authorities enter into commitments that are irrevocable for the duration of the solutions they set up.
7.2.7 Adoption in due course of a Joint Residual Waste Management Strategy and of a Joint Waste Development Plan will require a further decision of each authority, based on the results of the consultation and preparation process .
7.3 Process
7.3.1 There is a need to ensure that the sub-regional waste planning policy framework is kept up-to-date and adequately reflects national and regional spatial planning policies. The Joint Waste Development Plan Document (JWDPD) will provide a spatial dimension for waste planning for the West of England. It will apportion the amount of waste to be managed in each of the four constituent Unitary Authority areas, and will set the principles for sustainable waste management. The Plan will provide the framework for strategic and sub-regional scale waste planning policy and development control decisions to ensure that adequate capacity for the management of the amount of waste that is produced within the West of England is managed within the area in a sustainable manner and in a way that does not rely on landfill.
7.3.2 Each council will need to take further decisions at each stage in the preparation of the JWDPD.
7.3.3 In order to comply with the statutory requirements of the DPD process the partnership is obliged as a first step to consult widely on Issues and Options for future waste management provision. An integral function of this consultation and participation process is to inform the choice of preferred technology options and potential sites that will be put forward for consultation during the next stage in the DPD process.
7.3.4The purpose of the Waste Management and Planning Strategy Issues and Options document is to generate discussion about waste management and waste planning in the West of England by seeking the views of stakeholders and the public on the waste issues facing the sub-region. These include, for example, how waste should be managed, which new technologies should be used and where the new technologies that will be required should be located.
7.3.5 The Issues and Options document includes sections on the amount of waste that needs to be managed over the twenty year period to 2026, technology options, spatial / planning implications and sections on shaping the planning and waste management strategies. Key issues are summarised at the end of each of these sections and the views of stakeholders and the public are invited on whether they are the right issues to be addressed or whether there are other matters that should be taken into account in the preparation of the JRMWMS and the JWDPD.
7.3.6 The Issues and Options document will also need to be accompanied by a robust, credible evidence base. This is intended to ensure that the JWDPD is soundly based in terms of its content and the process by which it is produced. The evidence base will be relevant to the preparation of the JRMWMS.
7.3.7 A more accessible version of the Issues and Options document has been prepared which will be shorter and less technical and better suited to hard to reach groups.
7.3.8 The European Union's Directive on the environmental assessment of plans and programmes (Directive 2001/42/EC) came into force in England and Wales in July 2004 through the Environmental Assessment of Plans and Programmes Regulations 2004. The JWDPD and the JRMWMS are subject to the requirement for environmental assessment known as Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA).
7.3.9 Additionally, the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 requires a Sustainability Appraisal (SA) of all Development Plan Documents. Government guidance is that a Sustainability Appraisal can and should be undertaken in a manner which also meets the requirements of Strategic Environmental Assessment.
7.3.10 The approach taken in the Sustainability Appraisal of the JWDPD and the JRMWMS is to undertake a single project to appraise them together so as to ensure that the appraisals are consistent and duplication of work is avoided. There is also an identified need to appraise existing waste management strategies to establish whether or not there is scope for improvements in waste reduction and recycling. This approach, which the Executive is asked to endorse in recommendation 2.6, is outlined further in Appendix E.
8 RISK MANAGEMENT
8.1 The report author and Lead Executive Member have fully reviewed the risk assessment related to the issue and recommendations, in compliance with the Council's decision making risk management guidance.
8.2 A detailed risk register has been developed for the projects, and has been reviewed by the programme board.
8.3 Further information on risk management in relation to the project is given in Appendix F.
9 RATIONALE
9.1 Each council, as a Waste Disposal Authority, is obliged to develop its own arrangements for dealing with residual waste. In these circumstances the processes would be identical to that being followed by the Partnership. However the WoE UA's would not benefit from the economies of scale which the project offers if they did this alone. The project has to be undertaken even if the partnership ceases, so that each UA can limit its liability in terms of Landfill Allowance penalties and Landfill Tax etc.
9.2 The formation of the Partnership will also greatly improve the proximity and self-sufficiency of waste management in the sub-region. The concepts of Proximity and Self-sufficiency were introduced in Planning Policy Statement 10. Proximity is referred to as: "disposing of waste at the nearest appropriate installation by means of the most appropriate methods and technologies" and Self Sufficiency as: "individuals, communities and organisations taking responsibility for their waste". The Partnership will consider these two principles in decision making and will aim to maximise proximity and self- sufficiency in the management of waste in the sub-region.
9.3 The process being followed by the Partnership follows the advice and guidance published by 4Ps, DEFRA and DCLG for major waste strategy development and infrastructure procurement. In terms of waste planning, the authorities are also answerable to GOSW.
10 OTHER OPTIONS CONSIDERED
10.1 The authority has considered the option of determining its own solutions for residual waste treatment, however the benefits of partnership working are identified in the rationale in section 9 above. This has made partnership working the most preferable option to pursue at this stage.
11 CONSULTATION
11.1 Ward Councillor; Executive Councillor; Parish Council; Town Council; Trades Unions; Overview & Scrutiny Panel; Staff; Other B&NES Services; Service Users; Local Residents; Community Interest Groups; Youth Council; Stakeholders/Partners; Other Public Sector Bodies; Charter Trustees of Bath; Section 151 Finance Officer; Chief Executive; Monitoring Officer
11.2 A key component in the development of the JRMWMS and the JWDPD is a process of public and statutory consultation with stakeholders and interested organisations and individuals on the Issues and Options documents (Appendix B). Approval of these documents and others appended to this report will enable consultation to take place between January and March 2007.
11.3 Consultation on the Joint Waste Development Plan Document must be carried out in accordance with the Town and Country Planning (Local Development) (England) Regulations 2004 and in accordance with each Council's Statement of Community Involvement (SCI) or the relevant Regulations where an SCI does not exist.
11.4 The Consultation on issues and options will take place through a variety of media including (but not exclusively) leaflets, articles, surveys, roadshows, public meetings, community meetings.
11.5 Following the West of England `Rubbish or Resource?' waste awareness campaign during July and August 2006, the WoE Strategic Consultation Forum (SCF) has contributed to the planning of a range of consultation and communications methods for the 2nd stage consultation which is focused principally on the Issues and Options document. Their inputs and views have influenced the content and balance of the activities
11.6 A more accessible version of the Issues and Options document has been prepared which will be shorter and less technical and better suited to hard to reach groups.
12 ISSUES TO CONSIDER IN REACHING THE DECISION
12.1 Customer Focus; Sustainability; Human Resources; Property; Human Rights; Corporate; Health & Safety; Other Legal Considerations
13 ADVICE SOUGHT
13.1 The Council's Monitoring Officer (Council Solicitor) and Section 151 Officer (Strategic Director - Support Services) have had the opportunity to input to this report and have cleared it for publication
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Contact person |
Carol Tunnard, Waste Services (01225 394106) David Halkyard, Planning Policy (01225 477528) |
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Background papers |
Report to Council, 14th July 2005 Waste Strategy 2005-2010 Report to Council Executive 8 February 2006, Joint Waste Core Strategy for the West of England Report to Council Executive 6th September 2006 - West of England Waste Management and Planning Strategy Programme Report to Council 11th September 2006 - West of England Partnership Joint Waste Development Plan Document Report to Council 23rd November 2006 - West of England Partnership Joint Waste Development Plan Document Jacobs Babtie, Technical Options Appraisal Report Project Initiation Documents (PIDS) for the Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy and Joint Waste Development Plan. Website: www.rubbishorresource.co.uk |
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