Joint waste authorities
One of the key barriers to joint working identified by the Innovation Forum report was the limited legal basis for joint working arrangements. This can create difficulties when authorities are dealing with the private sector.
A mechanism which allowed authorities to enter into a legal commitment to work together on a statutory basis would give certainty to potential lenders and contractors. Other barriers identified by the Innovation Forum report were the complexity of joint arrangements for financing and scrutiny of decision making.
In order to reduce these barriers, the Government introduced new powers, in the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 (LGiPH). to allow the Secretary of State to create Joint Waste Authorities (JWAs) where a group of authorities requests this. This new measure, which was requested by local authorities, provides an option for those authorities that wish to put their joint working on waste on a statutory footing.
Page last modified: 30 May 2009
Page published: 25 January 2007