Shropshire Council warns of new waste tax it 'cannot afford'
Last year, BBC research found that burning household rubbish to make electricity was now the dirtiest way the UK generates power.
The Local Government Association (LGA), which represents councils in England and Wales, predicts that the ETS could collectively cost councils up to £747m in 2028, rising to £1.1bn in 2036.Shropshire Council owns the Battlefield ERF but it is operated by waste management firm Violia.The site generates enough electricity to power 10,000 homes.Exactly how much cost will be passed on to the council is unclear. But it is likely to be millions of pounds - money the council would struggle to find.The LGA has argued that councils are not commercial operators and cannot refuse waste collections.
'Additional financial burden'
Shropshire Council said the authority was assessing the cost of the proposed tax and would work with Violia to develop a strategy to reduce the impact on taxpayers."This is clearly an additional financial burden that Shropshire Council cannot afford," the authority said."The most sensible option would be to compensate councils as part of the finance settlement, though a more cost-effective option would be to not pass the costs on to local government in the first place."The expansion of the carbon tax, which currently applies to aviation and energy intensive industries, has been criticised by the County Councils Network.The organisation is calling on the government to focus instead on the industries creating fossil-based materials, such as plastic packaging, textiles, electrical items and furniture.
'Crazy behaviour by government'
"Passing the cost on to councils when we're not in a position to control waste disposal to avoid incineration, or we're locked into extremely long contacts, is crazy behaviour by government," said Richard Clewer, a spokesperson for the County Councils Network and former Conservative leader of Wiltshire Council."The cost will literally push councils over the edge to bankruptcy."Almost all top-tier councils dealing with social care are facing very significant cost pressures . . . the government has got to be more thoughtful and joined up than this."The Battlefield ERF, which has been operational since 2015, burns about 100,000 tonnes of waste a year, including all of Shropshire Council's non-recyclables, plus waste from other areas, including Telford and Wrekin.Food waste has increased the tonnage of residual waste being burned at the Battlefield incinerator after a ban on scraps being put in green bins, rolled out from November when the £56 garden waste charge was introduced.However, all councils must provide a free weekly food waste collection by April next year. The leftover food will end up being turned into biogas rather than being incinerated.The government says it wants to manage waste in a way that works for communities and is fit for the future.The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said "expanding the UK Emissions Trading Scheme to include energy from waste facilities will cut emissions and drive investment in cleaner supply chains."We continue to engage with industry and local authorities on the detail of this scheme, including how costs will be managed to reflect emissions reductions and recycling efforts, and will provide further updates in due course."
Follow BBC Shropshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
10 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Judges who bring their personal politics to court should be removed, insists shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick
Judges who bring their personal politics to court should be removed, shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick has insisted. Tighter pre-appointment checks for those with partisan views are needed, the MP for Newark, Nottinghamshire, said. He also called for a system for their removal if any political meddling is discovered. Mr Jenrick said: 'If judges want to enter the political sphere themselves, then they should stop being judges and go into politics. 'We have to have a situation where judges who act politically and bring their own personal politics into their job as a judge are held to account and frankly, can be removed.' The shadow Lord Chancellor said he has previously exposed judges for tweeting what he called 'highly political, partisan messages'. Meanwhile, he added, others have acted as trustees of 'highly partisan' charities. 'I think that is bringing the historic independence of our judiciary into serious disrepute and we've got to change that,' he concluded. Removing senior judges is no easy task, requiring a vote in both the Commons and the Lords. In lower courts, meanwhile, there needs to be an investigation into any reported wrongdoing, ending in a recommendation of removal. Mr Jenrick noted UK judges remain highly respectable in some areas of the legal system, like the commercial courts. But he felt they had not remained independent in others, particularly noting immigration tribunals. He emphasised a judge's role is simply to uphold law made by Parliament. The shadow minister said it was pointless to leave behind 'activist judges' in the European courts after Brexit if the UK simply has the same problems with this at home. Judges are currently selected by the independent Judicial Appointments Commission, introduced in 2005 by then prime minister Tony Blair. But Mr Jenrick - shadow Lord Chancellor since November last year - believes this is not working and is exploring returning this responsibility to the Lord Chancellor. This approach, in place before Mr Blair's 2005 Constitutional Reform Act, has been previously criticised by many as unfair and politicised. Elsewhere in his interview with The Telegraph, Mr Jenrick said he wanted 'every single illegal migrant in this country' deported. The former immigration minister - from October 2022 to December 2023 - said this included those arriving on small boats and lorries, as well as people who claim asylum after landing at airports. He resigned from his position in then-PM Rishi Sunak's Cabinet after urging for a reinforced Rwanda deportation policy. The shadow minister still believes similar schemes are a key part of a successful approach to dealing with migration. He also suggested if the Tories were to enter government at the next election in 2029, he would round up and deport anyone who came to the UK without permission under Labour who has not been granted asylum. Mr Jenrick praised US president Donald Trump, who he backed during last year's election, for his approach to immigration on the country's southern border. He said it showed a crackdown on illegal arrivals can have a swift impact. The Conservative insisted it was not his rhetoric that is causing a culture war - but the UK's inadequate approach to migration, saying the country wants decisive action. Earlier this week, the BBC apologised to Mr Jenrick after a refugee charity boss suggested on air the shadow justice secretary is xenophobic. On Radio 4's Today programme on Wednesday, Krish Kandiah, a director of Sanctuary Foundation, claimed the shadow minister had increased 'fear of the stranger' in the UK. Mr Jenrick accused the broadcaster of smearing 'millions of worried citizens as 'xenophobic' for their completely understandable fears'. It comes after the shadow minister's trip to Calais earlier this month to witness small boats setting off for England, footage of which he posted on social media. The Conservative MP lost the party leadership race last summer to Kemi Badenoch, after making it to the final two candidates. Central to his campaign was the notion of removing the UK from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) as the way to deal with small boat arrivals. This would make it harder to anyone who arrives in Britain illegally to appeal deportation for family reasons, he argued. Ms Badenoch dismissed this approach during the race as not well thought out - but now looks set to take it at the party conference in the autumn.
BBC News
10 minutes ago
- BBC News
School mosaics to be saved
A series of "incredibly precious" mosaics hidden in a girls' school in Manchester are to be saved after coming minutes away from being "beautifully designed" friezes, crafted from handmade Venetian glass, were hidden behind wooden panels at the former Chorlton Convent High School for Girls. The building was due being pulled down when a group of local residents got involved at the last is thought the Christian mosaics, believed to have been created in the early 1900s, were covered over and forgotten about when the school was taken over by the Manchester Islamic High School for Girls around 1991. Local resident Tracey Cartledge - who works in restoration - flagged the discovery to colleagues in the art world, local councillors and Historic England in an effort to save the mosaics."It's made of absolutely beautiful Venetian handmade glass, gold leaf, and a very rare recycled mosaic glass that was made in London for a limited period," Tracey epxlained."The whole thing is incredibly precious - not just because of the materials used - but because of the high-quality of... the work".Developer Cube Homes, which was in demolishing the school to build new houses, has agreed to partly fund the restoration and it's hoped fundraising will help pay for the this year a separate mural depicting Mary and baby Jesus at the entrance to the school was also saved.
Daily Mail
10 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Selina Scott says she blames Sadiq Khan for her terrifying mugging, declaring 'he's got security - so why doesn't the public?'
Selina Scott has blamed London Mayor Sadiq Khan for her terrifying mugging after claiming he is not keeping people 'safe' in the capital. The veteran broadcast, 74, was left 'battered' and 'humiliated' after a gang of thieves assaulted her in broad daylight before stealing all her valuables outside a branch of Waterstones in Piccadilly in June. Seconds after leaving the shop, Ms Scott was struck on the back of her right knee, leaving her feeling as if she had been 'stabbed' and was quickly surrounded by a 'well dressed' group of seven or eight men and women. Within seconds they had managed to unzip her bag and make off with her wallet - containing all her cash and cards - as well as her driving licence, meaning she was forced to fend for herself and seek sanctuary. But the former ITN News At Ten anchor was shocked to find no police officers nearby to report the crime and was forced to walk home 'for several miles' still reeling from the traumatic ordeal. Officers then failed to attend a scheduled visit to her home the following day, citing a lack of available police cars. Met Police commissioner Sir Mark Rowley later apologised and admitted the force should have done better. Months on from the attack, Ms Scott remains frustrated over the supposed lack of safety in London and the Met's failure to robustly tackle such crimes, which have become 'rife' in the capital. But Ms Scott believes the brunt of the blame lies with London Mayor Sadiq Khan for failing to provide security teams like his own to members of the public. 'Sir Mark Rowley had the decency to apologise,' Ms Scott told The Telegraph. 'I actually blame the Mayor of London. More than I blame the police, actually, because the Mayor of London took on the job to keep the people of London safe, the police come under him. 'Everywhere you go there is security for well-known people, the Royal family have security. The Mayor of London has security. So what's different? Why doesn't the public have security? Why don't I get it?' Ms Scott said she would now carry a hidden 20 note on her when she ventures into central London and advised others to do the same. 'I would say to anyone walking through central London, put 20 quid in your shoe or down a sock or in your knickers or somewhere, because the worst thing was not having any money,' she said. Ms Scott has previously called for the London Mayor to step down in the wake her of terrifying mugging, claiming he has 'lost control of policing in London'. 'Sadiq Khan is now a knight of the realm, knights of the realm have a code of chivalry,' she told Good Morning Britain in June. 'It would be the honourable thing for him to do to step down and let someone else try and tackle this tsunami of crime. 'London is not the place you think it is. It's got lovely shops, it's got lovely exhibitions, it's got that great feeling, but there's this underbelly of danger. I am not going to the West End in a hurry again and I advise anyone else thinking about this to think twice.' Ms Scott previously told The Mail On Sunday how the terrifying assault - which took place on busy Piccadilly - left her 'shattered and traumatised'. She said she was attacked by 'around seven or eight' smartly dressed men and women, who appeared to be of East Asian origin. The broadcaster explained that she felt a sharp pain in the back of her leg after she was brutally hit moments after leaving the book shop. She then felt a tug on her shoulder as the thugs tried to wrench her bag away - before she was forced to engage in a tug-of-war with her assailant. With astonishing bravery given they were carrying what appeared to be a weapon, Ms Scott fought back and was able to keep hold of the bag – only for one of the practised thieves to deftly unzip it and remove her purse before running off. Ms Scott says she felt 'furious' at the lack of a police presence to deter or capture the criminals, despite being told by officers that such muggings were 'rife'. She told The Mail on Sunday: 'I'm mentally resilient and physically fit, but if they can attack me in such a brazen way they can attack anyone. You're left feeling not just traumatised but stupid that you have somehow let it happen. 'I'm also furious about the lack of police on our streets. No wonder the gang who set about me have a sense of impunity – they can do anything they want because they know no one will stop them.' Ms Scott did not require medical attention but suffered severe bruising to her leg in the assault. 'I am now only too relieved it wasn't a knife they used,' she said. Adding to her frustration, officers failed to attend a scheduled visit to her home the following day, citing a lack of available police cars. The incident has raised serious concerns about public safety and police presence in the heart of the capital. During a call-in on Nick Ferrari's show on LBC in June, Sir Mark Rowley admitted that the force could have given the broadcaster a better service in the wake of the attack. 'I can feel for her. She's obviously very upset. She's a 70-odd-year-old lady who had a very frightening experience,' he said. 'The officers weren't able to give the service that we would expect on that day. I'm sorry about that.' A Metropolitan Police spokesman previously said: 'While we understand that the victim in this case was frustrated that she couldn't see any police officers on the street at the time of the incident, we would like to reassure her and the wider public that a significant number of officers patrol the West End every day to target offenders, including those carrying out thefts and robberies. 'They patrol not just in uniform on foot, but also in plain clothes and in vehicles to have the best opportunity to identify and apprehend suspects. 'We would be happy to talk to the victim in this case to better understand her concerns.'
