Greater London Authority Bill

I am grateful to have this opportunity to revisit the arguments that we had in Committee over the proposal to establish a single strategic waste disposal authority for London. We aired the arguments well in Committee, but none the less I remain of the view that the Government are missing the opportunity to make an important contribution to the efficient delivery of waste services and to achieve associated benefits, particularly in the area of environmental gain. It is relevant to note that today the Mayor has put forward a plan for reducing carbon in London and making London one of the leading global cities in achieving climate change targets. I am proud of the fact that—thanks to the Government and the devolution of London government that was achieved in the run-up to 2000 and subsequently—we now have a London government able to take such a lead. However, there are areas of service delivery in which we could put serious extra weight behind the capacity to achieve those targets. The most important issue is that the present system is failing to deliver, and that it has been doing so for the past 20 years. The arguments put forward by the Government and the Opposition that incline the Government to believe that we are about to see a radical change are implausible, given that failure to deliver. A dynamic 21st-century London is still managing its waste as if it were in the Victorian era, with 16 different waste disposal authorities. No other world city has such a fragmented and incoherent delivery structure and, consequently, such a poor waste and recycling performance. The days of London being able to bury its waste problems in other people’s back yards are well and truly numbered. Our capital city faces a step change in the way in which it manages its waste. A creaky and declining infrastructure, based on exporting waste to landfill, must be replaced by a new and rapidly expanding infrastructure that is based on recycling and the recovery of renewable energy from London’s waste. That challenge is daunting enough, but what is even more worrying is that, in order to achieve that and to avoid potentially massive landfill fines, London councils should have started years ago. The challenge was known. The penalties and the costs of not acting were clear. However, the snail’s pace has continued in spite of that. The first real crunch point comes in about three years, and yet there is still no sense of urgency among those in charge.