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‘NORTH LONDON WASTE AUTHORITY REPORT TITLE: CONSULTATIONS AND POLICY UPDATE REPORT OF: HEAD OF OPERATIONS FOR SUBMISSION TO: DATE: AUTHORITY MEETING 28 September 2017 SUMMARY OF REPORT: This report provides the regular update on consultations and policy issues which have the potential to impact on Authority operations or activities. The report is principally focussed on one issue for this meeting, namely the consultation draft London Environment Strategy of the London Mayor. The report sets out key aspects of the consultation draft document for Member consideration and recommends authority is delegated to submit a formal response. The Deputy Mayor for Environment and Energy will give a presentation to the meeting. The report also notes a response to the GLA’s Environment Committee and planning matters that may affect the Authority’s principal place of business in Tottenham Hale. RECOMMENDATION: The Authority is recommended to delegate authority to the Head of Operations, in consultation with the Chair and Vice Chairs to submit a response on behalf of the Authority to the draft London Environment Strategy. SIGNED: ________________________________ Head of Operations DATE: 18 September 2017 1. PURPOSE AND STRUCTURE OF REPORT 1.1 The Consultations and Policy Update report is a regular report which provides an update for Members on consultations and policy issues that are relevant to the Authority such that the proposals have the potential to affect the Authority’s operations and/or costs. The report additionally seeks approval for responses where appropriate. 1.2 This report is principally concerned with the Mayor of London’s consultation draft Environment Strategy. It also notes planning matters that may affect the Authority’s principal place of business in Tottenham Hale. 2. THE MAYOR OF LONDON’S ENVIRONMENT STRATEGY 2.1 As reported at the June Authority meeting the Greater London Authority (GLA) has a duty to develop a capital wide environment strategy, the London Environment Strategy (LES). The Authority will also have a duty to be in general conformity with the waste elements of the LES. The long term implications of the aims, objectives and implementation of the LES for the capital and its residents, workers and visitors were also noted at the last Authority meeting. 2.2 Authority officers had attended a pre-consultation LES ‘strategic engagement workshop’ with the GLA but also concluded that it may provide a helpful addition to the dialogue on the LES if the Authority provided further input at the pre-consultation stage. Following approval at the June Authority meeting the Head of Operations was delegated to submit representations to the London Mayor in consultation with the Chair, concerning the issues that the Authority considered of greatest importance in the expected LES. The Chair subsequently sent a letter to the Deputy Mayor for Environment and Energy which is included as Appendix 1 to this report. 2.3 The following points which were made in the Chair’s letter are incorporated into the consultation draft LES: 2.3.1 A commitment to a circular economy approach for the capital – Chapter 10 of the consultation draft LES sets out measures for a transition to a low carbon circular economy. 2.3.2 Integration of businesses within the scope of the LES – The contribution of the business community is incorporated throughout the document, although it is not clear if or how the European programmes of Extended Producer Responsibility (or post-Brexit equivalents) might contribute to driving the circular economy forward in London. Officers are also enquiring about the calculations of recycling target achievement to understand how much businesses will contribute towards the achievement of the municipal recycling target for the capital or how businesses might be incentivised to do more. 2.3.3 Clarity is provided about the retention of the Emissions Performance Standard, which will be retained alongside tonnage based recycling targets and the Carbon Intensity Floor. Proposal 7.3.2a sets out that waste authorities are expected to demonstrate how they meet the greenhouse gas Emissions Performance Standard (EPS). Proposal 7.3.2b states that “Waste authorities much demonstrate how solutions generating energy from waste meet the carbon intensity floor (CIF), or put in place demonstrable steps to meet it in the short-term.” It is expected that the proposed Energy Recovery Facility at the EcoPark will be able to achieve the CIF when the proposed local heat network is fully operational. 2.3.4 A commitment to behaviour change including communications to increase recycling and reduce waste. This will be delivered by working with the London Waste and Recycling Board (LWARB) and Resource London, waste authorities and other relevant parties. The Mayor will support campaigns including Recycle for London, Love Food Hate Waste and Trifocal to help Londoners and businesses to reduce waste. The take-up of recycling services by local residents and businesses will be critical to the achievement of LES recycling targets. 2.3.5 There is also mention of recycling scheme standardisation to make recycling systems easier to understand if residents move around the capital. This is a matter for the constituent borough councils in the first instance. 2.3.6 Explicit links are made with the London Plan and specifically to the need for regional self-sufficiency in managing London’s waste within the capital. The consultation draft LES also sets out a number of areas in which the Mayor expects the new London Plan to contain additional new policies and proposals to further protect the environment. 2.4 However, there are some points in the Chair’s letter that the Authority might seek to be expanded upon in the final LES: 2.4.1 The importance of waste infrastructure is mentioned; it appears that support for infrastructure will be delivered primarily through London Plan requirements and the work of the London Waste and Recycling Board. Officers are seeking a better understanding of the GLA’s assessment of the scale of the need and the direct steps needed to deliver the step-changes sought by the Mayor. 2.4.2 Similarly, it will be necessary for officers to engage further with GLA counterparts to develop a more detailed picture of the scope of the test of “general conformity” and it will be applied in practice. 2.4.3 Finally, officers believe that it would be helpful to all if links to other Mayoral strategies could be more explicitly referenced so that any new service developments can readily consider these from the outset. 3. KEY ASPECTS OF THE CONSULTATION DRAFT LONDON ENVIRONMENT STRATEGY 3.1 On 11 August the Mayor of London launched the consultation on his draft LES which runs until 17 November. The LES integrates six different environmental policy areas into one document with the aim of protecting and improving London’s environment and protecting the health of Londoners. From cleaning up London’s air to improving green spaces in the city and cutting carbon emissions, the LES sets the long-term ambition for making London cleaner and greener in the light of anticipated population and housing growth in the capital. The LES covers a period of 33 years from 2017 – 2050. 3.2 The following sections of this report provide a summary of the key aspects of the LES which are relevant to NLWA. It is anticipated that constituent boroughs will be responding separately and will be commenting upon a broader range of issues than NLWA. 3.3 The most relevant and important section of the LES for NLWA is Chapter 7 about ‘Waste’. Key points to note are: 3.3.1 A Mayoral aim for London to become zero waste by 2026 which means no biodegradable or recyclable waste going to landfill by that date and by 2030 65% of London’s municipal solid waste (MSW) to be recycled. 3.3.2 The Mayor wants waste authorities to collectively achieve a 50% local authority collected waste (LACW) recycling target by 2025 and aspire to achieve 60% by 2030. 3.3.3 Landfill and incineration are “undesirable” although the role of energy- from-waste is acknowledged in managing London’s non-recyclable municipal waste. The LES states that London will have sufficient incineration capacity to manage non-recyclable municipal waste once the new Edmonton and Beddington Lane energy recovery facilities are built. 3.3.4 Effective recycling is reported as able to give local authorities a reliable high value income stream which can be used to help offset costs associated with service improvements. 3.3.5 Waste prevention is prioritised in the LES and the document notes that the LES will take a circular approach to London’s use of resources that designs out waste, keeps materials in use at their highest value for as long as possible and minimises environmental impact. The two priorities for waste prevention in the LES are reducing food waste and single use packaging because “they offer the biggest opportunity for change.” 3.3.6 The LES notes that waste authorities in performing their waste functions, need to show how they are “acting in general conformity with the municipal waste provisions” of the LES but that general conformity only applies to local authority collected waste (LACW) activities and that acting in conformity cannot bring excessive additional costs to waste authorities. The Mayor also has the power to direct a waste authority where he considers their waste activities to be detrimental to implementing the municipal waste provisions in the LES. The Mayor has no power of direction over businesses or private waste management companies. A series of London Mayoral expectations of waste authorities is included in this Chapter – see Table 1 below. Table 1 – Waste Authority Expectations The Mayor expects waste authorities to deliver the following in order to show they are acting in general conformity with the LES’s municipal waste management policies and proposals.