GUILDFORD MP WARNS LOCAL COUNCILS OF ABANDONED CARS CRISIS

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 20th Jul 2004

Sue Doughty MP has today contacted the Chief Executives of both Guildford and Waverley Council after she discovered that local authorities are on the brink of a crisis that will lead to an abandoned car mountain growing at up to 45,000 cars per week across the nation.

The British Metals Recycling Association informed Sue Doughty this morning in her capacity as the Liberal Democrat Shadow Environment Spokesperson that the sector would cease processing of all scrap vehicles as of today.

Requirements stemming from the 1999 Landfill Directive make it illegal from today to dispose of hazardous waste in the same sites as non-hazardous waste. Uncertainty over how the residual waste from recycling vehicles should be classified (about 27% of the total mass) means that for the foreseeable future the residue will not be taken by either hazardous or non-hazardous sites.

Sue said: "This will make the fridge mountain look like a mole hill. With nowhere for local authorities or industry to store the vehicles they will simply start clogging up our streets. Our local councils already have to foot the bill for hundreds of abandoned cars, now they may be left working out what to do with thousands of cars that have nowhere to go.

"The Government cruised towards today's deadline with no map, no navigation from the Secretary of State, and ignoring all the warning signs on the way. Resolving this problem must be a top priority as the consequences for our councils and our local environment are unthinkable."

Sue Doughty has written to the Secretaries of State at DEFRA and DTI, and the Deputy Prime Minster, calling for them to give their personal attention to the immediate resolution of the problem.

Sue said: "Most local authorities are still not aware of the nightmare situation they are facing. I have asked the Deputy Prime Minister for an assurance that our local councils and all of us who pay the unfair councils tax will not be left footing the bill for a problem that has been caused by a failure of central government."