Rubbish battle heads back to court

Monday 03 October 2016

St Helier is going back to court to fight to allow its parishioners to be able to dump their rubbish for free, in a move which could yet block the newly agreed commercial waste charge.

Ministers' plans to bring in the new charge were agreed last week, and they thought a recent court decision to make St Helier parishioners pay for waste disposal backed them up. But the parish has now decided to appeal.

Back in the 1950s the parish struck a deal – a covenant - whereby it sold land at Bellozanne to the States to build an incinerator and in return it was agreed parishioners wouldn’t be charged for getting rid of their rubbish.

But the Infrastructure Department wants to change all that. Under the Medium Term Financial Plan it’s proposing a new commercial waste charge which could bring in an estimated £10m. But, to do that, St Helier will also have to pay its way. The charge would come into force from 2018.

The Infrastructure Department says the Bellozanne deal wasn't for ever - just for a reasonable time or for as long as the plant was operational  – a view that was recently backed by the Royal Court. It agreed the deal was not open-ended and supported the Infrastructure Department – in legal terms ‘the public’: "The Court does not accept the construction placed upon the Bellozanne covenants by the Parish and agrees with the Public that there cannot have been an open-ended commitment."

The court also concluded that any deal had run out because rubbish is no longer disposed of at Bellozanne – a new incinerator was recently built at La Collette: “We conclude that, if we were wrong in construing the Bellozanne covenants as terminating in 1979 with the dismantling of the three destructors, then of necessity they were terminable by reasonable notice, such notice deemed to have been given and the Bellozanne covenants terminated in 1979 or at the very latest in January 2011 when refuse ceased to be taken to the Bellozanne land.”

But St Helier Constable Simon Crowcroft doesn’t agree, and has confirmed he’s appealing the court’s decision: "I agree with the principle of paying for waste disposal, but because of the covenant that shouldn't include St Helier. That's the States going back on a promise. St Helier has to appeal this decision on a point of principle and because of the financial implications of the charge being introduced. I've received legal advice and am confident an appeal will be successful."