Taxpayers facing huge bills as waste problems pile up

Northern Ireland's taxpayers could be facing massive bills as the latest report on the province's waste management reveals that major targets will be missed.

A report published today by the office of the Comptroller and Auditor General for Northern Ireland has revealed that the development and implementation of Northern Ireland’s Waste Management Strategy is a shambles.

The report singles out the role of the Department of the Environment (DOE), which has responsibility for developing relevant measures and implementing the strategy, as "slow" to introduce EU environmental directives in Northern Ireland.

Total expenditure on waste management by DOE and Councils is estimated at between £90 million and £120 million annually. Currently, domestic waste disposal costs £60 million, and this is expected to double by 2020. Initial estimates for capital expenditure on major new infrastructure alone will be in the region of £270 million over the next five years.

The Auditor General's report said: "NI has been slow to transpose European Union environmental Directives into domestic legislation, sometimes doing so years after the rest of the UK. The late introduction of legislation has contributed to disparities in control between NI and the Republic of Ireland.

"The problem of illegal dumping of waste emanating from both sides of the border has generated considerable public concern."

Asking how many reports will be needed before there is appropriate action, Declan Allison of environmental lobby group Friends of the Earth have again condemned the handling of the waste strategy implementation by the DOE and measures to tackle illegal dumping as a "failure".

In 2000, the NI Executive committed to develop a Sustainable Development Strategy, this has not been finalised, and, given this failure, the report said that "no formal, local, indicators against which to measure progress" can be established.

The 1975 EU Waste Framework Directive requires all member states to prepare waste management plans. The DoE launched the NI Waste Management Strategy in 2000, in response to the Directive.

The Audit Office report concludes that meeting EU requirements and compliance with the mandatory Directive targets, despite a lower initial target for NI will be "likely to prove challenging."

Recommendations in the report included a Strategy based on a reliable assessment of the current waste problem.

It further recommended that consideration should be given to alternative structures, such as EHS taking on the role of waste management authority for the whole of NI, relieving Councils of the responsibility for making strategic decisions and freeing them to concentrate on driving forward improvements in local service delivery.

Currently considering the report, the DOE have declined to comment.

(SP/MB)