Latest news with #localauthorities
Daily Mail
5 hours ago
- General
- Daily Mail
Do YOU know which bin soft plastics go in? Major shake-up to how households recycle the items most Brits don't know what to do with
A new kerbside recycling scheme for soft plastic items people often struggle to dispose of is set to be introduced across all councils in England by March 2027. North Somerset Council will be one of the first local authorities to rollout the new scheme which makes it easier to recycle items such as plastic bags, crisp packets, dog food pouches, bread bags and cling film. As of last week, people living in the area were asked to bag up their soft plastic waste and put it in their green mixed glass recycling bin before leaving it outside to be collected. They are asked to use a plastic bag they would already be throwing away, such as a bread bag and no bigger than a carrier bag, squash all the air out and tie it with a knot. Some people's collection day has changed as part of the switch to three weekly bin collections, whereas they were previously collected fortnightly. Anyone who faces a gap of over three weeks between their old and new collection day will have an interim one-off collection, which may be on a Saturday. Most people's recycling and waste collection day will also change in June to increase the efficiency of collections, reduce carbon emissions, and improve reliability of the service. People in North Somerset have one green box for mixed glass recycling, which is now also used for soft plastics, another for mixed paper and card, a third brown box for food waste, a large black bin for general waste and a green one for garden waste. They must also bag up small appliances, mixed textiles and clothes and batteries separately for collection. As of last week, people living in the district were asked to bag up their soft plastic waste and put it in their green mixed glass recycling bin before leaving it outside to be collected (stock image) So far, it is unclear what the rules will be for other councils as the scheme is rolled out across the rest of England over the next two years because each area has varying procedures and bins. North Somerset Council said soft plastic waste accounted for around 10 per cent of black bin waste in the county. It claims the new strategy will save them money by cutting back on black bin collections as they will be emptier and will allow residents to recycle more plastic. The recycled soft plastics will be reused and turned into items such as bags for life or traffic cones, the council said. Out of the 311,000 tonnes of plastics found on supermarket shelves just 6 per cent is recycled, according to one estimate from Recycle Now. Before the scheme, people had to take their soft plastic waste to their local supermarket who collected it and claimed they were sending it off to be recycled. The vast majority of people didn't and instead put it in with their general household waste. But those who did make the effort were perhaps wasting their time as an investigation by Everyday Plastic and the Environmental Investigation Agency found 70 per cent of the soft plastic being collected by supermarkets was actually being incinerated. Other areas which have implemented the new soft plastic kerbside recycling scheme include Solihull in the West Midlands, South Gloucestershire and East Dunbartonshire and Fife in Scotland. Maldon and Penarth are also trialling the scheme.
Times
11 hours ago
- Business
- Times
Council tax bills set to rise in the south to fund the north
Council tax bills are set to rise across swathes of southern England to funnel more money to northern cities under radical Labour reforms to be set out on Friday. Angela Rayner, the deputy prime minister, will set out plans for a 'progressive' redistribution of local authority funding designed to ensure more Whitehall money goes to areas with the highest needs. She is expected to announce the move as a significant Labour reform designed to ensure that residents in poorer areas are not paying over the odds in council tax but receiving shoddy services in return. However, council chiefs warn the plans will be 'deeply divisive' as many wealthier areas in London and the home counties lose out. About half of councils' income comes from central government and Rayner will announce plans for a new formula for allocating the money based on local needs, including population, poverty and age. This will lead to more cash going to deprived areas after her department said that the link between funding and local needs had 'broken down' and that reform 'will enable local authorities who have had to scale back services the most to catch up'. Rayner has pointed to people living in cities in the north that are paying hundreds of pounds more in council tax than those in leafy southern areas. She said these residents were 'unfairly being asked to pay more for worse services'. The most extreme examples include the council tax for a three-bedroom semi in Hartlepool, which is more than an £80 million ten-bedroom mansion in Westminster. Government grants to councils will also now be based on calculations of what local authorities could raise if all areas charged the same rates of council tax based on their local mix of housing. The combination of the two changes will mean steep falls in grant income for wealthier councils, mainly in London and the southeast, forcing them to raise council tax rates to make up the shortfall or cut public services. While some councils fear a 'bloodbath' as income collapses overnight and they are pushed into bankruptcy, ministers insist they will not let this happen. They are expected to promise a cap on how much councils' grant income can drop by, transitional protections for those that lose money, as well as extra weighting for rural and coastal areas with higher transport costs. Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, insisted she will not change rules which limit councils to raising council tax bills by 5 per cent a year, unless they have permission from local residents in a referendum. However, officials acknowledge that more councils are likely to apply for exceptional permission to raise tax above 5 per cent as they struggle to balance the books. While insisting these will be judged on a case-by-case basis, ministers have signalled they will look more favourably on applications from wealthier areas with historically low council tax rates. Councils are also expected to get more freedom to increase fees and fines for services such as parking, and licensing which are often capped by central government. One senior figure in local government, briefed on the plans, said the move would be 'deeply divisive' and create significant winners and losers. 'There is no doubt at all that it is going to be polarising,' they said. 'For a lot of councils in richer parts of the country the current system works quite well for them and they're going to lose funding. 'A lot of councils in rural areas are also worried that they will see their funding diverted into deprived urban areas.' David Phillips, of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said reform was overdue. 'It's been 20 years since we've had an effective system to allocate funding between councils so it is out of whack and the changes are going to be big,' he said. 'We would expect urban areas in the Midlands and north to benefit, and maybe some of the east London boroughs. But the Westminsters and Wandsworths of this world, which set very low council tax, will lose. If the referendum limit remains at 5 per cent they will be stuck, so the government needs to give them some flexibility to put up their council tax beyond that.' • Who pays council tax and how does it work? He added that home counties areas such as Hertfordshire, Surrey, Buckinghamshire, Wokingham and Oxfordshire could also lose out. 'Given the focus on equalising for council tax bases, which are much stronger in these leafier places, and reassessment of needs, you'd expect leafy areas to lose out and the more deprived areas to benefit,' he said. Phillips added that if the government 'goes to the maximalist side on redistribution, then it is making a trade-off to prioritise need over incentives for councils to tackle need and grow their council tax base. They needs to be clear they are making that call.' The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government argues that the present system has resulted in 'perverse outcomes, where some authorities are struggling to provide basic services whilst others are better off'. A spokeswoman said: 'Individual councils remain responsible for setting their own council tax levels each year, and the government is clear that they should put taxpayers first.' Officials said the new system would 'ensure that government doesn't reward places that have been able to keep council tax levels low due to having stronger tax bases', and be 'fairer to local authorities and their residents where they have had to take difficult decisions historically on council tax, often due to having weaker tax bases'. They said that 'adjusting fully for ability to raise council tax' would 'make funding available in such a way as to enable local authorities to provide the same level of service, regardless of their tax base'. They argued that this 'promotes accountability' by allowing voters to judge councillors if they choose to hold down council tax by cutting services.
Telegraph
13 hours ago
- Business
- Telegraph
SNP may delay landfill ban to stop rubbish being sent south
The SNP could delay a ban on landfill in Scotland to prevent up to 100 truckloads of rubbish a day being moved to England. John Swinney said it was 'not acceptable for a large amount of waste to be transported' south of the Border when the ban comes into force at the end of this year. The First Minister said 'several options' were being explored to avoid this in discussions with local authorities and waste management firms. Pressed directly, he refused to rule out a further delay to the ban, which was originally scheduled to come into force in 2021. It emerged earlier this week that the SNP's ban on 'black bag' waste being buried in landfill is expected to lead to 600,000 tons of rubbish being transported to England in the first year. Industry experts warned that this was the equivalent of 80 to 100 trucks of waste per day being moved south of the Border. Scotland does not have enough incinerators to handle the rubbish. BBC Scotland's Disclosure programme reported that councils and commercial waste companies have been approaching rubbish handling operators in England to negotiate 'bridging contracts'. However, most incinerators have very little spare capacity, meaning much of Scotland's excess waste is expected to be landfilled in England. Among the rubbish barred from landfill in Scotland will be non-recyclable black bag municipal waste, wood, textiles, paper and food. Some inert material, such as ash from incinerators and building rubble, will still be allowed at landfill sites. Mr Swinney told First Minister's Questions: 'I do not think that it is acceptable for a large amount of waste to be transported from Scotland to England. The landfill ban will be a significant step in reducing methane emissions in Scotland. 'Methane is a greenhouse gas that is around 28 times more potent in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide over a 100-year period. Preparations have already been made for the ban coming into force and the vast majority of councils have solutions in place.' He added: 'We are working closely with the waste sector and exploring several options to ensure that we are reducing any environmental impacts as much as possible.' Earlier this week, SNP ministers ruled out a further delay to the ban but Mr Swinney failed to repeat this when asked directly. He said 'options' were being 'explored' with councils and waste management firms to avoid the 'scenarios' of waste being moved to England. Asked a second time if the landfill ban could be delayed, he said: 'We're looking at steps that could be taken to make sure that we avoid the situation.' Maurice Golden, a Tory MSP, said the SNP Government's 2013 recycling targets 'remain unmet' and pointed out that the ban would mean £75 million of landfill tax revenue going to the UK Treasury instead of the Scottish Government. He told MSPs that the ban would also result in tens of millions of pounds in costs to small and medium-sized businesses, adding: 'It's the ultimate farce.' Liam McArthur, a Liberal Democrat MSP, challenged Mr Swinney: 'How would the Scottish Government respond if hundreds of truckloads of waste from England were dumped in Scotland daily?' The Scottish Government originally planned to impose a ban on sending biodegradable waste to landfill from January 2021 but the deadline was pushed back five years after industry leaders warned the country was not ready. A lack of waste treatment capacity at the time prompted warnings that a million tons would have to be disposed outside of Scotland, with the majority of it simply shifted across the border to England. This prompted a rush to build more incinerators but SNP ministers decided to curtail the number of developments over concerns there would be overcapacity. There are currently eight operating in Scotland.
BreakingNews.ie
21 hours ago
- Politics
- BreakingNews.ie
Over 3,700 empty council-owned homes in Ireland, Dáil told
There are over 3,700 empty council-owned homes across Ireland, the Dail has been told. The Government is to issue a circular to local authorities to say health and safety should be the only thing to delay empty council-owned homes being allocated to people. Advertisement Aontu leader Peadar Toibin told the Dail on Thursday that there were 3,779 vacant council-owned homes across Ireland based on Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to local authorities. He compared keeping council homes empty to exporting food during a famine. 'We also FOI-ed the local authorities as to the number of local authority homes that are empty in this state,' Mr Toibin said during Leaders' Questions. 'In the jaws of the worst housing crisis in the history of the state, there are 3,779 council owned homes that are empty. Advertisement 'Now, having empty homes in the middle of a housing crisis is akin to exporting food in the middle of a famine.' Tanaiste Simon Harris said he agreed that council-owned homes 'lie empty for far too long'. 'I've had a lot of discussions with a lot of people who are saying 'Hang on, if only I have to get into that house. I don't need the divil and all done, I just needed to be safe and I just need to be warm.' 'That's why government intends to issue a circular to all local authorities to make it clear, health and safety should be the only grounds for the delaying of the giving out of a local authority home, not the bells and whistles.' Advertisement Mr Toibin also accused the Government of understating homeless figures by 892 people and of understating the housing waiting list figures by over 16,000. Aontu leader Peadar Toibin (Brian Lawless/PA) He said he had sent Freedom of Information requests to every local authority in the country asking how many people are homeless in their area. He said this produced a figure of 16,472, which was above the official homelessness tally of 15,580. He also said that when local authorities were asked how many people were on their housing waiting lists, they came back with a figure of 75,000, which is above the official government figure of 58,824. Advertisement 'Your ability to account the number of people who are on the housing waiting list at the moment is out by the population of Tullamore,' he said. Mr Harris said that the anomalies were likely a result of duplications, as people may engage with more than one local authority for housing needs, particularly those living at county borders. 'These figures aren't figures calculated by the government in a party political sense. These are figures calculated by the state in a robust, impartial manner,' he said. Mr Toibin responded to say that it was not possible to be on two housing waiting lists simultaneously. Advertisement 'There wasn't as much pirouetting and spinning at my daughter's ballet recital as I just saw there,' Mr Harris replied. 'This is far too serious to engage in conspiracy theories here.' Mr Harris also accused Sinn Fein of being the biggest property owners in the Dail while being quizzed on whether rents would rise. Sinn Fein's health spokesperson David Cullinane, during a press conference at the Clayton Hotel in Dublin, during the launch of their new health policy (Archive/PA) Sinn Fein TD David Cullinane called on the government to 'stop it, scrap it' in relation to changes to rent pressure zones (RPZs). Mr Cullinane said that the rent changes will hurt students and workers 'stuck in an ever spiralling rental trap'. 'You talk about a balance. The balance here is tipped in favour of the vulture funds and the cuckoo firms and the investors. 'More money for them, more profit for them, which is always the case under Fine Gael, who represents a cosseted, privileged class, from my perspective. 'But see, when it comes to ordinary people who have to pay increase costs on groceries, on insurance and now on rent, they're the ones who are paying the price.' In response, Mr Harris said Sinn Fein were the largest property owner in the parliament. Tanaiste Simon Harris speaking to the media (Liam McBurney/PA) The Fine Gael leader quoted the party's director of finance Des Mackin, who told the Irish Times in 2020 that the party owned 40 to 50 properties across the island, with seven in Belfast. 'Don't talk to me about the privileged classes when the largest property owners and investors in this house is the Sinn Fein party,' Mr Harris said. 'The biggest property owners in Dail Eireann, the biggest property investors are Sinn Fein, so don't give me this 'We're on the side of the working people'. 'It's just a load of bull that people see right through.' Ireland Housing target of 41,000 'not realistic', Minister... Read More Mr Harris cited the Central Bank analysis that indicated the RPZ changes would have 'a positive' impact on supply and said that Sinn Fein's call for reference rents would have seen rents rise for existing tenants. He said the government would announce next month investment in 'key enabling infrastructure' to deliver homes, including water, wastewater and energy supplies. He also said that the government would take 'more measures to protect students' in the budget.
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Daily Mail
Canada issues new travel warning for the US
Advertisement While the US recently updated its travel advisory for Canada, Canada has responded with its own updated warning, specifically advising travelers to steer clear of demonstrations. While Canada's travel advisory for the U.S. still suggests "normal security precautions," a June 11 update specifically warns travelers about demonstrations in Los Angeles and other major cities. On the same day, the U.S. also updated its own advisory for Canada with minor adjustments, recommending similar normal precautions. Canada's travel advisory for the U.S. now warns travelers to "stay away from demonstrations and to "follow the instructions of local authorities, including curfew orders." The advisory, which specifically highlights "Demonstrations in Los Angeles and other major cities," also advises monitoring local media for the latest information. Since June 6, 2025, large demonstrations have erupted in Los Angeles and other major U.S. cities. The updated advisory notes the deployment of additional security forces and a curfew in effect for most of downtown Los Angeles from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. It also warns that further curfew orders could be imposed with little notice. The advisory from Canada specifically references 'Curfew guidance – City of Los Angeles.' It also highlights an increase in 'criminal incidents associated with drug trafficking' near the Mexico border, particularly in California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. For those crossing the U.S.–Mexico border by car, Canada advises 'extreme vigilance,' recommending the use of 'officially recognized border crossings' only and 'avoiding travel at night.'
