Agenda item

The Joint Waste Core Strategy, prepared by the four West of England Unitary Authorities, provides a spatial planning policy framework for waste management. An Independent Examination was held in November 2010 and the Inspector concluded that the strategy is 'sound' in his binding report and that it can therefore be adopted by the Council.

Councillor Paul Crossley made an ad hoc statement in which he said that it had taken too long to get to the present point, but observed that the plans had come a long way since the initial attempts to persuade the partnership to endorse incinerators.

Councillor Charles Gerrish said that he understood Councillor Crossley's sense of frustration but observed that a great deal of work had been required.  He referred to paragraph 5.1 of the report, and said that the words "locating the development" should read "identifying the location for".

Councillor Gerrish said that the Inspector's findings were binding on the Council and that there was now a need to move promptly to adopt the plan to enable the partnership to move forward with the plan.  Given that there would be no full Council meeting until May (which would cause a delay) he was asking the Cabinet to advise the Chief Executive to exercise his urgency powers to endorse the plan.

Councillor Vic Pritchard seconded the proposal.

Rationale

The four West of England Authorities are committed to working together to plan for the changing waste needs of the sub-region. This work must be underpinned by a robust policy framework. Not to adopt a Waste Core Strategy jointly with the other West of England Authorities would create a risk that waste planning policy for the sub-region was inconsistent, potentially leading to an unbalanced and unsustainable distribution of waste facilities.

The Chief Planner (Communities & Local Government) wrote to all Local Authority Chief Executives 10 January 2011 and outlined that the EU Waste Framework Directive means that all waste planning authorities need to have waste management plans in place that allocate sufficient land for waste management facilities. The Government wants to ensure waste plans are adopted to meet EU requirements and to avoid the UK incurring infraction proceedings and fines as a result of unsatisfactory progress. In the event that local authorities do not comply, the Government has included a power in Part 2 of the Localism Bill to pass on some or all of any fines from the European Court of Justice to any authority which causes the UK to be in breach of its obligations under the Directive. It is therefore important that the West of England Authorities adopt the Joint Waste Core Strategy.

Other Options Considered

To prepare waste planning policies for Bath and North East Somerset, independently of other West of England Authorities. Not to prepare a waste Core Strategy jointly with West of England Authorities would create a risk that waste planning policy for the sub-region was inconsistent, potentially leading to an unbalanced and unsustainable distribution of waste facilities.

On a motion from Councillor Charles Gerrish, seconded by Councillor Vic Pritchard, it was

RESOLVED (unanimously):

(1) To WELCOME the Inspector’s binding findings;

(2) To NOTE the need to move quickly to the adoption of the JWCS;

(3) To COMMEND the report to Council;

(4) To ASK the Chief Executive to consider exercising his urgency powers to ensure the timely adoption of the plan.