Meeting: County Council (County Hall, Durham - Council Chamber - 26/02/2008 09:30:00 AM)
Item: A6 Revised Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy for County Durham 2007-2020
Report of Corporate Director, Environment
Purpose of the Report
1 To recommend to Council that the Revised Municipal Waste Management Strategy for County Durham be adopted as a framework to make progress with the Waste Project, including further rounds of public consultation at key stages.
Background
2 The County Durham Waste Partnership has been meeting over the last couple of months to update and add local targets to the Draft Municipal Waste Management Strategy for County Durham.
3 The Partnership (which comprises waste representatives both at officer and Member level of the County Council and all seven District Councils as well as a representative from the Environment Agency) is keen now to take the Strategy forward so that progress can be made towards achieving ambitious targets for composting and recycling to reduce waste going to landfill in accordance with EU and Government requirements.
4 The previously adopted Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy was published in 2001 and covered the period from 2001 - 2020. This was reviewed by the Partnership in 2004 and it was agreed that in the light of changing circumstances and new targets it needed to be revised. ERM Consultants were appointed by the Partnership with the assistance of Defra funding to carry out this review. Their draft findings were published in March 2006 and comprised a number of reports:
· Draft Headline Strategy
· Action Plan
· Baseline Assessment
· Technical Report: Waste Prevention and Reuse Report
· Technical Report: Recycling and Composting Options Report
· Technical Report: Residual Waste Management Options Report
· Technical Report: Strategic Environmental Assessment Report
· Technical Report: Health Impact Assessment Report
5 From these documents a summary strategy has been produced. This has now been updated in the light of consultation which was undertaken in 2004/05 and to take account of the National Waste Strategy for England which was published in 2007.
The Revised Strategy
6 The principle purpose of the Strategy, in simple terms, is to answer three questions:
· Where we are now?
· Where do we want to be and when?
· How do we get there?
7 The Strategy has an overall aim and five objectives:
Strategy aim: “To provide a framework for the delivery of a sustainable municipal waste management solution for the residents of County Durham, taking into account economic, environmental and social factors and with particular focus on the principles of the waste hierarchy.”
The waste hierarchy’s fundamental principle is placing waste prevention at the top as the most desirable solution followed by reuse, recycling and composting, energy recovery and finally disposal as the least preferred option.
The overall objectives of the Strategy are to:
· Provide sustainable integrated waste collection and disposal services that protect human health and the environment
· Provide value for money in all waste management services while achieving and exceeding government targets for waste
· Manage materials, as far as possible, in accordance with the waste hierarchy, maximising the amount managed at the higher levels of the hierarchy
· Manage municipal waste minimising transportation as far as possible
· Enable flexibility to allow for new technology developments and changing legislation
These objectives together with a set of Partnership priorities and targets (see Appendix 2) will help to guide waste management in the County to comply with EU and Government advice/targets. In order to achieve these targets we need to consider a number of options that will be able to deliver more treatment capacity, reducing significantly the amount of waste going to landfill.
The Partnership has agreed that the overall aim is to:
· Minimise more
· Recycle and compost more
· Add more capacity for treatment
· Investigate alternative thermal treatment with energy recovery
8 There are a number of different treatment options that can be considered and these need to be assessed as part of the next stage of the process, through the Waste Project Strategic Business Case and the Outline Business Case which will develop the route towards procurement of new facilities.
9 The Waste Management Strategy sets the scene and context for this together with baseline information and targets for the future.
Risk
10 The production of the current Waste Strategy document lies outside the deliverables of the Waste Solution Project, however, its content and final adoption are key to the delivery of the overall project objectives. It is therefore appropriate to report associated risks with the document through the project protocols.
11 The production of the final version of the Waste Strategy is an iterative process, which as it evolves will require further full consultation with key stakeholders. At each stage the project risk log will report associated issues.
12 To ensure the timely delivery of the Strategic Business Case, acceptance of the current Waste Strategy is required, therefore non delivery or a delay in its approval represents a key risk. Issues relating to final content will be addressed and reported on as the project evolves.
13 A detailed risk log is in place for the Waste Solution Project, risks have been identified early in the project and management of said is ongoing. This process has been developed with the corporate risk manager in line with revised protocols. Clearly a number of these risk issues are commercially sensitive and as such the risk log is not attached to this report.
Consultation
14 Public consultation took place on the revised strategy in 2004/05 in accordance with Defra guidance with statutory and other consultees (see list in Appendix 3). Comments made at the time were incorporated into the Strategy and now with the updated National Strategy target incorporated together with local targets it is proposed that a further consultation exercise takes place in the light of the recent additions. As an on-going process and as work on the Waste Project continues further consultation will need to take place at key stages.
The Waste Project
15 Consultation on the Revised Municipal Waste Management Strategy will enable the Waste Project to proceed through to the completion of the Strategic Business Case and then if required, support the delivery of the Outline Business Case which will assess the options for the delivery of future DCC waste management needs. This work is ongoing and a report will be tabled to the Waste Board and hence to Cabinet at the completion of the Strategic Business Case and following the completion of a peer based Gateway review which will be reported to Cabinet together with the Draft Strategic Business Case early April 2008. Consultation will also take place as the project progresses.
Recommendation and Reasons
16 Council is asked to adopt the Revised Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy for County Durham as a framework to make progress and that it be the subject of further public consultation. The Strategy is also to be considered at Cabinet on 21 February 2008.
Background Papers
Draft Revised Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy for County Durham
2007 - 2020 (A copy has been placed in the Members’ Resource Centre).
Attachments