Conclusion

'.. Whilst recognising that this Waste & Minerals Core Strategy has to address a number of difficult issues for the area, we believe that at the moment the preferred strategy is weak, lacks ambition and will fail to deliver the environmental benefits such a strategy urgently needs to ..'

Response from the Green Group of Councillors, Brighton & Hove City Council

Jason Kitcat is a Green city councillor in Brighton & Hove

Response 02 December 2009

'.. I want to make clear that we do oppose the proposed introduction of land raise sites for waste disposal - especially in sensitive parts of our countryside as implied by the report ..'

References

Dealing with green waste: Brighton & Hove vs the world

Benn outlines plans to make UK a "zero waste nation"

The future of waste and recycling in Brighton & Hove

But they also have an joint agreement with ESCC to handle their waste

It would seem as though we have misunderstood the status of Brighton and Hove City Council because they are indeed a unitary authority and became one a number of years ago (around 1997?)

As has been said before, being a unitary authority places the onus on B&H to provide for their own waste disposal.

However, this entire situation (requirement for land raise) seems to have arisen as a consequence of a Joint Working Agreement between ESCC & Brighton and Hove City Council for an integrated waste contract, which binds the two authorities into a joint waste agreement.

Background to the Joint Waste Agreement

Inevitably in any joint working arrangement there are winners and loosers - regrettably the East Sussex Low Weald seems to be a looser in this arrangement with Brighton and Hove City Council being the winner

Although, it has not yet been adequately explained why B&H cannot have landfill sites in their own area rather than having recommendations to dump their waste throughout East Sussex Low Weald

Some of the underlying questions have to be:

• Was this Joint Waste Management arrangement in place the last time ESCC proposed land raise sites in the county and why under the current situation is ESCC being potentially disadvantaged for the benefit of Brighton and Hove ?

• Why are Brighton and Hove unable to provide for their own landfill/raise sites closer to the source of their waste (Policy WLP2: Transport Strategy)? We have already eMailed all the main political parties (Greens, Labour, Conservatives, LibDems) in Brighton with this question and so far NONE of them have replied - does this tell us something?

• Can Brighton and Hove explain why it is deemed acceptable to dump their waste throughout East Sussex Low Weald - the 'not in my backyard' syndome for waste they have created

• Can ESCC explain why they are prepared to accept Brighton and Hove waste being dumped througout East Sussex on land raise sites

• What possible sites have been investigated around Brighton and Hove. In this context it is questionnable whether soil type is an issue because ESCC have already commented on the acceptability of 'liners' in relation to the proposed land raise sites; therefore why would 'liners' not provide a solution for landfill on the outskirts of Brighton?

Explanation

A unitary council is a single council responsible for the delivery of all local government services in a particular area. It is widely recognised as the easiest, clearest and most efficient model for local government, and this system operates in most urban and city areas across England.

Current Situation

There exists a two-tier system, with different services provided by different levels of government.

• One district council - Brighton and Hove City Council covering most of the built up area
• One county council - East Sussex County Council (ESCC) covering the whole of the city (and the rest of East Sussex too)

The district council provide services such as housing, refuse collection, street cleansing and litter collection, culture, parks and development control.

The county council (ESCC) provides such services as children's services, adult social care, libraries, strategic planning and transport and waste disposal

Brighton and Hove Unitary System

There would be considerable advantages for B&H in the unitary approach

• Greater efficiency
• More local focus
• Stronger economic focus on the city of Brighton and Hove
• Strategic leadership

Unfortunately all these benefits would seem to have been outweighed by the ability to off-load all their problems onto East Sussex County Council (ESCC)

Is this why Brighton and Hove City Council does not have unitary status

Question

Why does Brighton and Hove City Council not have unitary status?

This means that they can draw upon East Sussex County Council (ESCC) to provide them with amongst other things WASTE DISPOSAL

In the light of the recent ESCC Waste Management Land Raise proposals is this an equitable situation for the rest of East Sussex?

No!! dumping Brighton and Hove rubbish in the countryside is not the right approach - dump it in your own back yard

There is some concern in other parts of East Sussex as to why it is deemed acceptable (regarded as a given) that Brighton & Hove can simply export their waste into the surrounding countryside.

Brighton itself is a cornuncopia of wanabee 'greens' but surely the acid test is the implementation of a coherent plan for waste disposal and not just off-loading the unpalatable element onto someone else? Just have a look at the following sites and see whether you can find any statement about waste disposal.

Brighton & Hove Green Party

Labour

Conservatives

Liberal Democrats

On the face of it none of the parties regard dumping their waste elsewhere in the county as an issue. Regrettably this blinkered approach just about sums up the whole situation.

See - Brighton & Hove City Council

How we manage our waste

The future of waste and recycling in Brighton & Hove

One of the issues is that B&H have independant status as a city but have unitary status for all local government functions; resulting in the current relationship between ESCC and Brighton & Hove.

Surely one solution to this seemingly inequitable position would be for Brighton & Hove City to apply for unitary status in it's own right. This would avoid the two-tier system, ensure B&H was autonomous and relieve the rest of East Sussex of the burden of Brighton & Hove's rubbish dumping. With this suggestion in mind the whole of ESCC Waste Management Strategy then becomes irrelevant because B&H would then not be part of the equation on the same terms; and therefore the requirement for Land Raise would disappear

The situation is really not helped by ESCC 'prostituting itself' for payments in allowing B&H's waste to be dumped in the rest of the countryside.

Frankly the 'not in my backyard' syndrom has to stop and B&H need to start taking responsibilty for their own problems.

Questions?

What assessments have been carried out into other means of waste disposal on their own patch. Preferably recycling - but after all they managed to get a dispensation from John Prescott for a football stadium in an AONB area so why not a similar dispensation for a landfill?

Presumably there would be outrage if the Devils Dyke were to be suggested as a landfill site and probably quite rightly so; but therefore why is it acceptable for other parts of East Sussex to be contaminated instead? Isn't this attitude as bad as exporting rubbish to poorer countries such as India etc.