Should Ken Get More Powers?

“Sutton residents work hard to recycle as much as they can and the council does its best to help, so why does Ken Livingstone want to take control of all waste disposal in London?”

That was the question posed to me by a Wallington resident last weekend.

Well, rather than give a straight answer – I’m a politician afterall (!) – I thought I might suggest ten reasons why a Single London Waste Authority is a bad idea.

1. A single Waste Authority would cost more. Creating a Single Waste Authority, rather than achieving savings, could actually increase the costs of dealing with London’s waste by up to £5.5 million per year. KPMG identified a risk of totally disproportionate costs of creating a Single Waste Disposal Authority, which would be borne by Londoners through their Council Tax.
2. Setting up a new mayoral body would divert valuable resources at a time when London’s existing borough led waste disposal authorities are already getting to grips with the twin challenges of reducing the amount of waste going into landfill and increasing the rate of recycling.
3. The Mayor already has enough power over waste. He sets the agenda through his Municipal Waste Strategy and he can direct boroughs over major waste contracts. He also has extensive planning powers in relation to waste facilities. He does not need to deliver the actual disposal function.
4. The link between waste disposal and waste collection/street cleansing would be lost. This link is important in ensuring an integrated approach to waste. As has been seen in the two tier shire county areas, making different authorities responsible for different parts of this process leads to confusion, inefficiency and dispute.
5. A body dominated by the Mayor and run from City Hall will not be responsive to local issues. Borough led waste disposal authorities are best placed to be flexible and deliver appropriate local solutions. The Mayor should keep his strategic role and not develop an operational one.
6. Boroughs are delivering and major new facilities have planning permission and are being developed. Recycling rates compare well with other urban areas and London sends less to landfill per head of population than the national average. There already are major new facilities in the pipeline including Mechanical Biological Treatment plants here in Sutton and soon at Frog Island in Dagenham, an autoclave facility in Rainham and an Energy from Waste plant at Belvedere.
7. The Mayor’s track record has been to impede the delivery of new waste facilities in London. Since the creation of the office of Mayor of London in 2000 the Mayor of London has used his powers to intervene in waste management strategy decisions and planning proposals across the capital. In some cases, his intervention has put London’s chance of achieving EU waste targets at risk.
8. A single waste authority would lead to stagnation of the waste market in London. Rather than improving services for waste management, a new single waste authority would create a stagnation of the waste market in London. It would create an uncertain market for investment from the private sector, with facilities already in the pipeline hit by planning blight.
9. A single waste authority would not be more efficient than the current structure. London has already delivered more than its share of Gershon efficiency savings on environmental services - any additional efficiencies gained through a Single Waste Authority would be small, and could be outweighed by higher overhead costs.
10. The Government’s review of the Mayor’s powers rejected proposals for a single waste authority instead proposing a London Waste and Recycling Forum ‘led by the Mayor’ and bringing together the GLA, boroughs and business to coordinate waste activities in London.

The Government clearly agrees that there is no need for a single waste authority. When it announced its proposals for new powers for the Mayor in July 2006, it decided against a single waste authority. That is why the Greater London Authority Bill does not legislate for a single waste authority, and London Councils (the body that represents all 33 London Boroughs)continues to support this position.