Controversial waste charge debate canned until Autumn

Wednesday 19 July 2017

Business owners had today expected to find out whether they would be forced to pay controversial charges, potentially in the thousands, to dispose of liquid waste – only to learn that the debate would be dropped until the Autumn.

Proposed by the Department for Infrastructure (DfI), the liquid waste charge was intended as a way for the government to reclaim £3.85 million they say it costs to process 'non-household' liquid waste each year.

Hotels, restaurants, clubs, nurseries and sports facilities could all be forced to pay up to £40,000 for larger establishments. But questions had arisen over what to do in the case of business owners operating from their own residences, leading to calls for the debate to be delayed.

But Minister for Infrastructure Eddie Noel pressed ahead with the debate – the fate of which hung in the balance after a series of negative speeches from States members yesterday.

They seconded criticisms from the Environmental Scrutiny Panel, who claimed that the charges had not been well thought through, but the Minister maintained in his opening speech: “As members will readily acknowledge, we have not exactly sought to rush this. As an assembly, we have been talking about this for some 12 years now… Waste charges are the norm in Europe and many other countries so obviously we have researched how they levy the charges to learn what works elsewhere.”

Pictured: The Minister for Infrastructure defended his proposals and claimed that they had been well-researched.

Deputy Sam Mézec, however, pointed to “philosophical inconsistencies” with the charge. He accused the Minister of having failed to assess certain businesses’ ability to pay, arguing for a more “progressive” model.

Moreover, he said that the charges – currently set at £2.27 per cubic meter – could be the starting point of a ”slippery slope”.

“What happens when we have a year when income forecasts are nowhere near as good as we would hope or need to be able to fund our services? What happens then? Does the government then go to look at these charges and say, ‘We’re going to increase them further than we initially wanted to do’? That is a serious worry for these businesses.” he said.

Deputy Murray Norton, himself a former café-restaurant owner, argued on behalf of the hospitality industry: “They have little in the way of a definitive control of limiting the use of water of holidaymakers. Unless they put timers on the bathrooms of holidaymakers, it’s going to be a little bit difficult.”

Despite these concerns culminating in strong urges from backbenchers to delay the debate in recent weeks, it was ultimately derailed by the “new information” that the charges’ introduction would be pushed back by nine months – coming into effect in January 2019.

Deputy Judy Martin argued that the Assembly needed more time to consider this, proposing to move onto the next item on the agenda instead, meaning the charges won't come to the States until later in the year.

The delay was passed with 31 votes to 15.