Greater London Authority Bill

It is a pleasure to participate in the debate, focusing on waste-related issues in London. It is certainly a very significant matter for my constituents. In many ways, Rainham in my constituency is a rarity: it is a landfill facility that takes in several hundred thousand tonnes of rubbish from London year on year. Indeed, Rainham has in many ways been a dumping ground for London’s problems for generations—hence the perhaps heightened anxiety of my constituents when they see the potential of the Mayor seeking to take greater powers to deal with waste-related matters. Hon. Members have raised a number of points, particularly about the sense of community, namely, that individual communities should take greater responsibility for waste-related treatment and processes. My own area of Rainham has not only a landfill site, but a materials recycling facility. A new one has just opened and there is the prospect of a further one, while an autoclave facility may well be established in the course of the next two years. There is even the possibility of a waste gasification plant being created in the next few years in a very small area of land. All that creates some concern for residents in my constituency about what the future may hold for Rainham, particularly in the context of it being at the heart of the Thames Gateway and in light of the changes, growth and investment coming into the local community. Understanding how Rainham meets the obligations of east London and Essex may make it easier for my constituents to put their concerns about the area into perspective, but it becomes a very different matter when the issue is placed on a capital-wide or a London-wide footing. It might be seen as an easy approach to say that because there are already waste-related facilities in Rainham, it would be acceptable to put more there. That might appear an easy option. It would, however, create huge resentment and anxiety among my constituents. They are already picking up the problems of east London and Essex, and more than fulfilling their responsibilities in regard to the inputs that are coming through. To extend that undertaking would create more problems and inhibit the potential for much-needed and long-promised regeneration in my community. In the wider context, it is important that people should have a much greater stake in, and a much greater linkage with, these issues in their local communities. I do not buy the argument that putting waste management on a London-wide footing through a London-wide waste authority would maintain a sense of community engagement and involvement. In many ways, it would take the decision-making processes and the sense of ownership further away from the people, where they need to be. I am sceptical about the import and impact of a London-wide waste authority. I am also sceptical about what it would mean for my constituency, given the role that my area already plays in dealing with at least part of London’s waste problems. If we were to go down this track, the system would become more expensive and less directly accountable to the communities. It would not fulfil our aspirations for increasing recycling rates and reducing the amount of waste going into landfill. The new technologies that are coming through could well contribute to our ability to meet those challenges. I am not convinced that a London-wide waste authority would achieve the ends that its proposers are seeking. Indeed, it could be harmful in the context of improving recycling rates and the way in which London deals with its waste, and improving the direct ownership that local communities need in order to fulfil those aspirations.