Let's have open answers on landfill
IN RESPONSE to Mr Bill Stevens, Councillor for Devonport Ward's letter, Tuesday, September 25. He is correct that my politics are right of centre and that I stood for election to local council in 2011 and 2012 for St Peter and the Waterfront Ward as a Conservative candidate.
Bill you are also right, in so much, that I am frustrated with the secrecy surrounding the proposal and subsequent approval in raw waste management by a EfW Plant at Weston Mill. Yet I also agree with the coalition Government's commitment to a zero waste minimisation strategy.
So in the public interest, in this period of Labour's declared openness and transparency, what are the facts that presented such a plant as the only viable option for the Unitary Authority of Plymouth (UAP) and surrounding area in future waste management: 1) what is the UK duty on land fill tax per tonne allowance and the cash sum paid by the UAP per year?; 2) What is the EU penalty per tonne for exceeding the allowance and the cash sum paid by the UAP for land fill?; 3) What is the UAP incurring in cost by private contractors disposing of the city's waste in transport, land fill and management?; 4) What percent of our city's waste was being sold and at what cost to the UAP to surrounding authorities that had surplus in their UK land fill allowance?; 5) What consideration had Plymouth made for alternative methods of waste management, wet waste and commercial recycling and what would have been the cost and lead in time to implementing such initiatives?
Mindful that yearly the volume of waste being generated is increasing, as are land fill taxes, whilst holes in the ground are becoming smaller and more expensive with tighter restrictions and penalties being imposed. That Plymouth City Council has set a recycling rate of 50 per cent, that glass recycling is being rolled out across the city and that incentives for businesses to recycle are proposed. I think we agree our waste must be managed with minimum risk and at a managed cost to the people of Plymouth.
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As I stood for local council to represent you Bill, a resident and registered voter in the waterfront, ironic that I now ask you to represent me in disclosing the answers to the above points I have raised.
Labour have declared they are the local Government that will be open and transparent. Let's have that raw facts on the costs of raw waste so we can scrutinise and then hold those to account.
I could not apologise nor should criticise whilst ignorant to the facts; would you Bill?
TAM MACPHERSON
Plymouth
Comments
by JonnyGlenholt
Tuesday, October 09 2012, 9:44AM
“Tam, as you have been a local Conservative candidate for the council, and claim to know more about local Government than just licensing matters, surely you know that this lies within the remit of the South West Devon Waste Partnership, which has a Tory majority, and that the decisions were made when Plymouth had a Tory council. There are some excellent links on Plymouth City Council's website that answer your specific enquiries.
Even Wikipedia yields the following:
Standard rate for active waste: £56 per tonne (2011/2012) - will rise to £64 per tonne in April 2012.
Lower rate for inactive waste: £2.50 per tonne (2011/2012)
Sections from the coalition government Emergency Budget 2010:
2.128 The standard rate of landfill tax will increase by £8 per tonne each year from 1 April 2011 until at least 2014. There will be a floor under the standard rate at £80 per tonne, so that the rate will not fall below £80 per tonne from April 2014 until at least 2020.
Keep trying.”