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Environment minister, Ben Bradshaw, has said the Government will not support plans to take recycling out of the control of councils in London. Mr Bradshaw has written all the council leaders in London, urging them to lobby their MPs against the creation of a single waste disposal authority in the capital. London mayor, Ken Livingstone, has already called for the creation of such an authority. MP Karen Buck has tabled an amendment to the Greater London Authority Bill, which would shift control of recycling from the boroughs to a single body. ‘Recycling is a flagship local authority service, vital to residents' perceptions of their borough,' wrote Mr Bradshaw. ‘And the Government believes recycling should continue to be managed at local level.' The chairman of London Councils, Merrick Cockell, said: ‘I urge the mayor to drop his call for a single waste authority and engage with the Government's proposed London waste and recycling forum. ‘The challenges faced in London cannot be met by one man alone but need us all to work together in a considered and effective way.' The Greater London Authority Bill is now at committee stage. A spokesman for the Department for Communities and Local Government said it would be discussed in committee until the final hearing on 23 January. Proposals in the Bill will give Mr Livingstone more powers over planning, housing and public health. Both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have pledged to fight plans to give Mr Livingstone more power over borough councils through the Bill. Liberal Democrat local government spokesman, Tom Brake, said the committee should send the single waste authority clause ‘to the dustbin'. ‘Hopefully, it will die a death,' he said.

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CLIMATE CHANGE

Minister rejects waste powers for mayor Ken

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