Brown's U-turn on pay-as-you-throw litter schemes 'will cost councils millions' » Environment » 24dash.com

Gordon Brown was today accused of "wasting" millions of pounds by carrying out yet another U-turn on pay-as-you throw litter schemes.

The Local Government Association (LGA) questioned why £7.5m was still being spent on pilot projects if the Prime Minister had already decided to ditch the controversial idea.

It also warned that scrapping plans designed to boost recycling would leave councils facing hundreds of millions of pounds in fines from the EU.

Councillor Paul Bettison, the LGA's environment spokesman, told the Press Association: "This must be making him dizzy. It is the third U-turn he has carried out on these financial incentives. There is the smell of burning rubber everywhere.

"Millions of pounds have been set aside to pay for councils carrying out these pilots, and that will be wasted."

He added: "We're a long way down the process and U-turns always look like dithering. It is the action of someone who does not know what he is doing."

Mr Bettison insisted that the decision put the premier at odds with some of his top ministers, including Environment Secretary Hilary Benn and Foreign Secretary David Miliband - who initially brought the idea forward in 2006.

"Joan Ruddock (the environment minister) has been very clear on this right from the start," he said. "She understands that waste collection requires an array of tools in order to go away and do the job.

"Miliband and Benn are both in favour. They have fought for this."

Mr Bettison pointed out that under EU rules councils would soon become liable for millions of pounds in fines if they did not meet targets for reducing landfill.

"It may be one thing for Mr Brown to seek short-term popularity by removing one of the tools... but if he does remove the tools then what will happen is that these councils will have to pay these huge fines and will not be able to increase council tax because he is bearing down on that with capping.

"They will then have to make difficult decisions on cutting services."

He added: "I think that this could be risking the longer term financial security of local authorities in order to get some short term popularity."

Downing Street sources have been briefing that Mr Brown will veto moves to give councils across England powers to introduce charging schemes.

But a Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) spokeswoman insisted pilots would still be going ahead.

"Five local authorities will next year be undertaking pilot schemes to create incentives for recycling," she said. "We will evaluate the impact of those pilots before making a final decision on whether other local authorities can introduce similar schemes."

The three-year trials are being funded with £4.5m from Defra, while local authorities are due to contribute at least another £3m for start-up and running costs.

Plans for what critics describe as a "bin tax" descended into chaos last September when Downing Street stepped in at the last possible moment to block an announcement giving the idea a full green light.

But proposals to allow pilot schemes to go ahead were later included in the Climate Change Bill.

Shadow Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles said: "We should take Downing Street briefings with a pinch of salt, given Gordon Brown's record for dithering. Unless Labour Ministers openly pledge to dump the bin tax laws currently before Parliament, the public should not trust a word Labour say.

"And dropping bin taxes isn't enough. Policies cooked up in Whitehall and Brussels and imposed on local councils, are forcing up the cost of waste - leading to cuts to weekly collections and over-zealous bin policies.

"It's time to end the bin bully culture that is making it impossible for families to dispose of their household rubbish responsibly.

"We should be making it easy for families to go green, not extending the intrusive, nosy and hectoring arm of the state."

Labour backbencher Joan Walley (Stoke on Trent North) insisted the Government could not just "stop start" different policies.

"The Government needs to look very closely at its environmental leadership and how environmental leadership can as well come from local councils, who were after all only elected last Thursday," she told BBC Radio 4's World at One.