Court ruling clears way to town waste charge

Friday 02 September 2016

A major obstacle blocking plans to charge St Helier businesses to dispose of their waste has been removed, following a ruling by the Royal Court.

The Parish was arguing that a 64 year old agreement, signed when it sold the site of the Bellozanne waste treatment works to the Island in 1952, contained clauses which allowed the Parish to dispose of its waste there for free in the future.

But now in a 57 page judgement, the Royal Court has ruled that those covenants are "spent and extinguished." That decision clears the way for Ministers to go ahead with their waste charge, which is a key part of plans to fill a potential blackhole of £113m in the States finances, which could emerge by 2019 if action isn't taken. Those plans will be debated by the Island's politicians later this month. 

In the UK, commercial waste charges amount to many millions of pounds per year.

Deputy Eddie Noel, Minister for Infrastructure, said “I am pleased that the Bellozanne covenants issue has at last been resolved. There has been a cloud of uncertainty over the covenants’ implications on waste operations for a number of years. This resolution gives us a clearer way forward.” 

The new waste charges could come into force as early as 2018, and generate £11m a year by 2019.