"Councils want to lead the environmental improvement agenda, but need to be empowered to do so"
Responding to measures announced in today’s Queen’s Speech on the Environment Bill, the Local Government Association’s Environment spokesman, Cllr David Renard, said:
“We will work with the Government to ensure that the Environment Bill and Office for Environmental Protection is effective in addressing the concerns of communities.
“Councils want to lead the environmental improvement agenda, but need to be empowered to do so. National climate change expectations and air quality targets are unlikely to be met unless councils are given long-term funding, devolved powers and easier access to complex government funding pots.
“A joint national taskforce led by councils would harness the critical partnership between local and national government to coordinate and drive climate change action for the benefit of communities, the country and the planet.
“To help councils increase recycling rates, manufacturers need to use packaging that is fully and easily recyclable and government needs to ensure producers pay the full cost of recycling packaging. More importantly, manufacturers need to reduce waste at the point of source to stop unnecessary and unrecyclable material becoming an issue in the first place.
“Clearer labelling and increased charges for hard-to-recycle products would help councils, manufacturers and the public be part of the recycling revolution that is urgently needed.”