Council leader joins landfill tax call

Councillor Roger Phillips, leader of Herefordshire Council, has joined a national call for landfill tax to be returned to local authorities so it can be invested in refuse and recycling facilities.

The call comes in a letter to Hilary Benn, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and says this year's dramatic increase in the landfill tax could see nearly £70 per household going to Whitehall over the next three years.

Council leaders from all parts of the country, including Councillor Phillips, have signed the letter which says council tax payers could be hit with a £1.5billion bill unless money raised through landfill tax is returned to councils as promised.

The letter calls on the government to honour the pledge to return money raised through landfill tax to local authorities.

"Despite repeated requests, the government is yet to demonstrate in a clear and transparent way how over the next three years this money is being given back to local authorities to keep council tax down and build the waste and recycling facilities that the country needs," the letter adds.

In the 2003 Pre-Budget Report, the Government promised that landfill tax increases from 2005-2006 would be revenue neutral to local authorities.

Up to now, the money raised from landfill tax has been returned to councils and has helped boost recycling rates in Herefordshire to 30 per cent.

"Landfill tax is designed to encourage people to throw away less, but at the moment it is unfairly penalising hard-pressed councils that need all the extra money from the tax returned, to enable them to invest in offering local people better recycling facilities," the letter adds.