Isonomia

by the Administrator

Sunday 12^th May 2013 marks the third anniversary of Eric Pickles’ appointment to the role of Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.

His time in office has been characterised by an indefatigable dedication to pursuing his own distinctive path through the minefield of local authority waste collection and Mr Pickles has certainly been effective in turning his views into often media friendly policies: his championing of waste reward schemes; his distaste for councils penalising people who don’t comply with the rules on household waste; or his championing of weekly refuse collection through the (rather less than successful) Weekly Collection Support Scheme.

Read more on Having his cake and eating it…

by James Fulford

It’s possible that Eric Pickles expected the Weekly Collection Support Scheme to provide a permanent boost to his popularity. After years in which local government had cut the frequency of rubbish collection, much to the chagrin of the Daily Mail, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government must have imagined that he would be seen to be acting decisively to put things right.

Read more on DCLG’s weak collection fund…

by Peter Jones OBE

Since I “retired” from Biffa over 4 years ago, I haven’t been short of things to do. One of my jobs has been as chairman of the Warrington-based not for profit organisation Envirolink Northwest, providing business support to the low carbon and environmental goods and services sector. As a group, the non-executive directors and I gave hundreds of hours of pro bono time to support the work of a dedicated team of staff. But in December we had to take the hard decision to liquidate the company. In a personal capacity, I’d like to explain why I feel that, despite the impact of projects ending, funding being withdrawn and the difficulty of winning new work in a difficult economy, the key problem was the hurdles that the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) put in the way of Envirolink receiving funding it was due – with repercussions across green industry in the North West.

Read more on DCLG’s hand in Envirolink’s insolvency…

by Phillip Ward

The upside of Eric Pickles’ venture into waste funding is that thanks to the good sense of local authorities not all of the £250m Weekly Collection Support Scheme will be wasted. By my reckoning it will pay for 23 new or extended food waste collections to be introduced and various expansions of recycling services, without any significant return to weekly residual waste collections.

Read more on Pickles puts councils in a jam…

by James Fulford

Eric Pickles’ Weekly Collection Support Scheme reminds me for some reason of an under-stocked all-you-can-eat buffet. Local authorities that commit to collect refuse weekly for the next five years will be invited to fill their boots, whilst those with fortnightly refuse collection wishing to provide a weekly food waste service, will be grudgingly shown to the back of the queue, to pick over the scraps. Show the waiter a special innovation ticket and you may find yourself advanced a few places in the line.

Read more on Pickles’ free lunch…