PLANS to introduce charges for the disposal of liquid waste that have been cited in multiple budgets but not yet “worked through” will need to be debated during this term of government, the Infrastructure Minister has told a Scrutiny panel.
Deputy Jonathan Renouf made the comments during a hearing with the Environment, Housing and Infrastructure Panel yesterday afternoon.
The 2026 to 2029 Budget states that, as set out in previous budgets, funding for future liquid waste infrastructure “is intended to be met through the introduction of liquid waste charging in 2028”.
When you look at the budgets, nobody seems to want to talk about it, but it is kind of assumed that liquid waste charges will be coming in at some point in this term of government
Infrastructure Minister Jonathan Renouf
It includes an estimate of £10 million to be raised through liquid waste charging from that year onwards.
“Receipts will be paid into the Consolidated Fund through general revenue income,” it notes.
“Details of the charging mechanism and proposals will be included in future budgets, alongside all other necessary arrangements for charges to take effect.”
However, there has been scrutiny in previous years over whether such proposals have been pushed down the government’s agenda.
During yesterday’s hearing, Deputy Renouf told the panel that it had “always been assumed” that liquid waste work “would depend on charging at some point in the future”.
He added that this was “a debate that has to be had during this term of government”.
Expanding on the subject later on, he said: “When you look at the budgets, nobody seems to want to talk about it, but it is kind of assumed that liquid waste charges will be coming in at some point in this term of government.
“But that is an assumption, not a sort of worked through programme. The detailed work on what that would look like, or even whether it will command political support, has not yet been done.”
