23 June 2017
The Minister for Infrastructure has listened to the feedback on the proposed user-pays non-householder liquid waste charges and will be adjusting proposals to reduce the initial impact on businesses.
The Department for Infrastructure (DfI) has received feedback during discussions and correspondence with businesses and industry representatives, in particular the hospitality industry, who have been asking for consideration to be given to delaying or phasing in the proposed non-householder user-pays charges. However, to do so required agreement from the Treasury and Resources Minister to make the required one-off funding available to phase in the charges.
The DfI Minister and the Council of Ministers were sympathetic to the request and have agreed to phase in the introduction of the charge. Therefore, initially only 50% of the proposed charge would be levied in 2018 and it would not be until 2019 that the full charge would be introduced.
Previous proposals had the full charge being introduced in 2018, so these new proposals should give businesses more time to prepare.
The total annual cost of disposing of the Island’s liquid waste is around £17.5m. Of this, about 22% of liquid waste comes from non-householders resulting in their share of the costs being £3.85m. The proposed non-householder user-pays charges would cover these costs, which are currently funded through income from taxes, and the majority of taxes are currently paid by individuals. The proposed charges will provide £3.85 million as part of the package of measures agreed by the States MTFP to provide important investment in priority areas and still deliver sustainable public finances and broadly balanced budgets by 2019.
Minister for Infrastructure, Deputy Eddie Noel, said “I am grateful to my Ministerial colleagues for allowing me to make the proposed introduction of user pays liquid waste charges a little easier for non-householders by discounting 50% of the charge for 2018. We have listened to industry concerns and have been able to adapt our proposals, even though it means continuing a subsidy for another year.”
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