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Aggregates tax has 'distorted market' and hurt environment
Page 10
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Far from increasing recycling, industry specialists say the aggregates tax
is damaging the environment. Guy Sheppard reports.
THE QUARRY INDUSTRY is launching a pre-Budget attack on the aggregates levy, saying it damages the environment and increases the need for road transport.
The tax was introduced nearly three years ago in a bid to encourage greater use of recycled building waste.
But the Quarry Products Association and the British Aggregates Association, which represents smaller quarry owners, says it has totally distorted the market.
This is because certain by-products of quarrying, such as china clay sand and slate waste, are exempt from the tax, giving them an unfair advantage over other materials that are not.
An independent report for the BAA says movement of taxexempt materials often involve deliveries in excess of 100 miles: "These have serious environmental impacts. The aggregates levy has therefore resulted in a higher environmental cost."
BAA secretary Peter Huxtable argues that the use of recycled building waste was already increasing thanks to the landfill tax, which was introduced in 1996.
Paul Allison, director of Sherburn Stone near Durham. runs a fleet of 35 trucks.
He believes the aggregates levy has resulted in more road transport: "Materials are being transported greater distances because of distortions in the market."
But in his pre-Budget report, published in December, Chancellor Gordon Brown gave an upbeat assessment of the levy's environmental benefits The Chancellor will deliver the Budget on Wednesday 16 March.