Government holds firm over withdrawal of waste cash

The Minister met Yorkshire councillors yesterday following the decision in February which put in serious doubt the future of a joint Bradford and Calderdale waste scheme, along with a separate plan under development by York and North Yorkshire.

The four councils were angered that the decision was made after they had already spent millions of pounds developing their schemes.

York Council leader James Alexander said: “The savings created by the project would be £1m each year, the equivalent of over one per cent in council tax.

“The councillors present are very disappointed by Lord de Mauley’s stance and unwillingness to listen to reason.”

The councils must now decide if they can develop their schemes without Government support or find other ways of dealing with millions of tonnes of waste.

Bradford Council leader David Green said: “The Minister listened but he played a dead bat and held the Government line which is they believe they have made the right decision and would not consider compensating local authorities for the money we have spent getting to this point.”

The four Yorkshire authorities were joined by councillors from Merseyside where a third waste scheme lost support.

A spokesman for the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said it was investing £3.6bn in 29 waste infrastructure projects which would reduce the amount of rubbish sent to landfill.

“We now expect to have sufficient infrastructure in England to enable the UK to meet the EU target of reducing waste sent to landfill. Consequently the decision has been taken not to fund the remaining three projects.

“This does not necessarily mean the three projects will stop. That will be a decision for the local authorities concerned,” he said.