The Earl of Cranbrookasked Her Majesty's Government:
What voluntary joint arrangement covering all waste disposal functions after 1st April 1986 have been agreed between district councils in West Yorkshire; and
What voluntary joint arrangement covering all waste disposal functions after 1st April 1986 have been agreed between district councils on Tyne and Wear; and
What voluntary joint arrangement covering all waste disposal functions after 1st April 1986 has been agreed between district councils in South Yorkshire; and
What voluntary joint arrangements covering all waste disposal functions after 1st April 1986 has been agreed between district councils in the West Midlands.
§ The Minister of State, Department of the Environment (Lord Elton)In South Yorkshire, Tyne and Wear and the West Midlands, the voluntary joint arrangements made between the districts provide for a joint committee to exercise certain functions establishing common criteria and systems for waste disposal site licensing, and common policies for waste disposal, and generally to co-ordinate arrangements. In each area there will be a "lead district"—Rotherham in South Yorkshire, Gateshead in Tyne and Wear, and Walsall in West Midlands—to service the joint committee and to provide a central Hazardous Waste Unit. These units will have the resources to exercise, on behalf of the districts, the functions under the Control of Pollution (Special Waste) Regulations 1980, to act on a county-wide basis to deal with any emergencies involving hazardous waste, and to ensure that consistent standards are set and enforced for the licensing of waste disposal sites. The councils have also undertaken to consult the Hazardous Waste Unit on any applications for site licences or proposed resolutions for the Council's own sites under Section 11 of the Control of Pollution Act 1974. Each unit will also have the rights of entry, inspection, sampling, etc. conferred by Sections 91 and 92 of the Control of Pollution Act 1974.
In West Yorkshire, the five district councils have agreed that a joint committee, with Wakefield acting as "lead" district, should discharge on their behalf all the waste regulation and disposal functions conferred on them by Section 9 of, and Schedule 6 to, the Local Government Act 1985.
In each of these four areas, the joint arrangements have been underpinned by binding agreements between the districts which also provide a satisfactory basis for the financing of this service.
Section 10(1) of the Local Government Act 1985 places a continuing duty on my right honourable friend to ensure that the arrangements for waste regulation and disposal are satisfactory, and the districts have undertaken to prepare annual reports on how they discharge these functions.