Waste: Aiming for zero waste
Friday, January 28th, 2011Andy Bond explains May Gurney’s approach to waste management, based on the aim of having no waste. The overall point of waste management is having no waste, according to Andy Bond. May Gurney Environmental Services’ Development Director was speaking at agendaNi’s waste management seminar. The Norwich- based company delivers services for councils in England and Wales. Pointing to Scotland and Wales’ ambitious targets, Andy Bond emphasised that this is a case where more can be delivered for less money, along with the desired environmental outcomes. “There is an absolute correlation...[full story]
Waste: Waste management review
Friday, January 28th, 2011The revised waste management planning policy statement should encourage innovation and technology, according to Environment Committee Chair Cathal Boylan. Meadhbh Monahan reports. A review of Planning Policy Statement 11 (PPS11), which covers the development of waste management facilities, is currently underway. In November, Edwin Poots said: “The existing policy is out of date. We need to take account of recent changes to European legislation such as the new revised Waste Framework Directive. I am also honouring a commitment given in the 2006 Waste Management Strategy to work towards...[full story]
Statute Summary: Local Government (Disqualification) Bill
Friday, December 3rd, 2010Purpose: to end dual mandates between the Assembly and local councils. An Assembly private member’s Bill is entering its final stage after an intense debate over whether MLAs should sit in councils. Dawn Purvis’ proposal would amend the Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 1972 to disqualify MLAs from sitting as councillors, after a 60-day period of grace. Assembly members are added to the list of disqualified persons under the 1972 Act. This would take effect on the day of the first council elections after royal assent. 5 May 2011 is therefore the target date. Her aim is to...[full story]
ICT: The G-Cloud
Wednesday, November 3rd, 2010A government cloud (G-Cloud) is not on the agenda for Northern Ireland’s public sector at the moment but its development in England is being watched closely. Meadhbh Monahan reports. While the Coalition Government plans to announce the creation of secure cloud computing infrastructure for the public sector in its forthcoming ICT strategy, a similar G-Cloud has not been scheduled for Northern Ireland. The Northern Ireland Civil Service’s ICT strategy is due to be released this month and a spokesman from the Department of Finance and Personnel (DFP) told agendaNi: “The NICS does...[full story]
Waste: What now after RPA?
Thursday, September 2nd, 2010An update on plans for a single waste authority after the collapse of local government reform. Under Edwin Poots’ reform plans for local government, the new 11 councils were to be served by a single waste disposal authority for the province, but disagreements over its timing led to the proposal being shelved. In brief, waste is collected by councils and disposed of by the three waste management groups, which are voluntary groupings of councils: arc21, the North West Region Waste Management Group and the Southern Waste Management Partnership (also called SWaMP2oo8). These groups are...[full story]
Waste: Clearing up waste law – the Waste Bill
Thursday, September 2nd, 2010The Assembly’s Waste Bill gives councils and the DoE equal powers to act against illegal dumpers and strengthens the law on contaminating land, including underground water. The Waste and Contaminated Land (Amendment) Bill is designed to strengthen the law on the subjects mentioned in its title and also bring about a “partnership approach” between the Department of the Environment and local government when tackling illegal waste. As the title indicates, the Bill amends also two existing laws, mostly the Waste and Contaminated Land (Northern Ireland) Order 1997 but also the Producer...[full story]
Local Government: Sharing power locally
Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010Power-sharing or the lack of it becomes contentious in areas where one community is a small minority. Nationalists have claimed they have been excluded from posts on Lisburn City Council while unionist councillors have said the same about Newry and Mourne District Council’s main jobs. There are unionist majorities in 13 councils and nationalist majorities in 11. In two councils – Belfast and Armagh – neither community has overall ‘control’. Research by agendaNi has found that 12 councils use the d’Hondt system i.e. Belfast, Armagh and all nationalist-held councils except...[full story]
Local Government: Out from the crowd
Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010By all accounts Northern Ireland is well represented at local government level. A total of 582 councillors sit across the 26 districts, debating planning applications, local leisure facilities and waste collection. Of that 582, only 30 currently sit as independents. Certainly a minority, independent members are still found more often in the councils rather than Stormont or at Westminster. It says something, though, that the highest number of them on any council is three, in Moyle and Newry and Mourne. In 1973, the first election for the newly established councils, there were 59 independents....[full story]
Local Government: Southern local cuts
Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010With 29 county councils, 75 town councils, five city councils, eight borough councils, eight regional authorities and two regional assemblies within its local government administration, the Irish Government has largely accepted that it must be downsized in order to save money. The Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure (An Bord Snip) initially speculated that cuts of €5.3 billion were required in the Republic’s public sector. Its recommendations for local government cuts included reducing the number of county and city councils from 34 to 22. However, when the Irish...[full story]
