International Review of Waste Management Policy - Department of ...

forge a genuinely ‘autonomous’ path by virtue of the fact that some key aspects of
legislation – notably fiscal policy – still fall under the competence of Whitehall
Government. So, for example, the different administrations could not set the Landfill
Tax at the level they may have wished because Whitehall effectively controls fiscal
policy. 1011
The different devolved administrations have different local government structures. In
England, local government responsibilities are often split into two tiers, those of the
lower-tier (the District and Borough Councils) and those of the upper-tier (the County
Councils), though in some (usually metropolitan) areas, the responsibilities are vested
in one single body and they are known as Unitary Authorities. Waste collection is a
responsibility of the lower-tier of local government, and these are called Waste
Collection Authorities (WCAs). Waste treatment and disposal, as well as operation of
civic amenity sites and spatial planning as it affects waste, are all responsibilities of
the upper tier, known as Waste Disposal Authorities (WDAs). Unitary Authorities fulfil
the functions of both WCA and WDA for the area they cover.
The picture is complicated further in some areas, such as Greater Manchester,
Merseyside and London, in that in these areas, there exist Statutory Joint Waste
Disposal Authorities (SJWDAs), which are not local authorities in the conventional
sense (their only raison d’etre is to deal with waste matters), but which take on most
of the responsibilities of the upper tier of local government as regards waste in those
areas they cover.
This rather complex system of local government organisation is not replicated in
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. All local authorities are unitary in these
administrations. In principle, this should imply that decision making in these
administrations is more streamlined.
In summary, regarding local government structures, and with particular emphasis on
the responsibility for waste disposal:
809
� In England, there are 394 local authorities. As regards waste disposal matters,
there are 121 waste disposal authorities (including SJWDAs). Some of the 121
authorities are, where residual waste is concerned, working in partnerships of
more than one WDA;
� In Wales, there are 22 Unitary Authorities. The Welsh authorities are also
forming groupings. We believe there are currently 9 ‘groupings’, though there
is still some movement among these;
1011 Scotland and Wales, for example, have lamented the slow pace at which the tax has increased, as
well as the fact that they have no control over the use of the revenue raised. Scotland and Wales are
also covered by the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (and subsequent amendments) which
effectively prevents local authorities from charging households directly for waste. These are two key
policies which, taken in combination, would have been sufficient to drive recycling rates higher and
faster over the recent past.
International Review of Waste Policy: Annexes