My response normally takes seconds in which I describe the awful 25-year PFI deal signed by the Labour administration in 2003 and extended another five years by the following Conservative leadership, a deal that Greens were against from the get-go.
Green councillors stood side by side with campaigners – one protester even dressed as the Grim Reaper to symbolise the potentially deadly effects of the gases produced by burning rubbish. There were cries of “shame” from the public balcony when Labour and Tories rubber stamped the plans.
We opposed this not just because we knew that the world of recycling would shift to include products not used at the time but also the eye-watering cost to the city. Payments totalling £124 million have been made since 2003 and in 2018-2019 alone the cost to BHCC was £12 million.
Green colleagues also warned Labour and Tory councillors that this deal would flat line our recycling rates for the duration of the contract. Even those who supported it admitted rates would be expected to hover at “27 per cent by 2006 and would meet the 30 per cent Government target by 2006/7”. That’s exactly where we have remained ever since.
In February’s Strategy and Finance Committee (ah committees, a place where genuine debate took place) a report presented to councillors stated: “The council has faced increased costs due to inflation and the need to draw down more on the reserve and additionally the rate of inflation used in our PFI model to forecast this year has increased significantly”.
It’s not just the soaring financial risk this Labour contract has brought on the city but the environmental impact. The BBC reported this week that “Burning rubbish now UK’s dirtiest form of power”. Their five-year analysis used “data on actual pollution levels recorded by operators at their incinerators and found that energy-from-waste plants are now producing the same amount of greenhouse gases per unit of electricity as if they were burning coal”.
Living next to waste incinerators can be so detrimental that campaigners in other parts of the country are taking legal action. The “Stop Portland Waste Incinerator” campaign group are fighting the government’s decision to approve planning permission for the waste plant at Portland Port.
And yet, Labour have refused to share local emission data. This reluctance to share figures on the diesel burnt at the incinerator in Newhaven amounts to a Net Zero in openness.
Thankfully there are other ways to get this information. The Incinerator contract locks in a dirty approach to waste management for decades and it burns 7,500 litres of diesel a week, creating 19 tonnes of CO2 per week over and above any emissions associated with burning the actual waste, this information comes from a report produced by the ‘UK without incineration network’ and not provided by Labour despite being requested. The economics of the incinerator, or “gate fees”, make the search for alternative approaches such as food waste collection and treatment much more difficult, even though those alternatives might be environmentally less impactful.
Greens attempts for introducing food waste collections have always been met with opposition – this would simultaneously improve our recycling rates and reduce the volume of waste being sent to the incinerator. Unfortunately, Labour have voted this down multiple times but have recently made quite the fanfare about the possibility of this service finally being provided. This has little to do with the current administration and rather a legacy of the previous Government which mandated councils like ours widen the range of recycling. By April 2026, as per the Environment Act, Brighton and Hove must recycle food waste and pots, tubs and trays with work looking at how we do this commencing well before this current administration.
Before the General Election, Caroline Lucas wrote to the then minister, making the case for more burdens funding: “The most recent estimates from the local authority suggest there is in excess of £1 million further funding required to provide an effective food waste collection service.”
The minister’s response revealed our Labour council has not asked for more funding, despite the shortfall, and I’m deeply worried they are planning to run another waste collection service without the full and proper funding needed.
Unfortunately for our already strapped city budget, we will continue to pay the costs of Labour’s PFI deal until at least 2033 and we’re saddled with Labour’s incinerator for many years after that. Brighton and Hove residents want to see us doing much better both environmentally, financially and in terms of quality of service. That’ll take a lot of political will.
n Steve Davis is Leader of the Opposition and Green Group Convenor
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