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Tippers sink under weight of green tax
Page 12
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114GuyShopard Tipper operators say they have suffered a marked downturn in work as a direct result of the new environmental tax or aggregates.
The 21.60/tonne levy is said to be creating huge stockpiles of low-value quarry products which are traditionally used in foundations and road building.
Peter Lemon, MD of Norfolk-based Middleton Aggregates, says that before the tax was introduced in April some aggregates sold for less than 21/tonne and warns: "if you add 21.60 you are almost tripling the cost" So far Middleton has managed to find work for all 23 of its tippers but it has stopped bringing in extra vehicles. "We were using five or six contract lorries a day," says Lemon. "There's been a downturn in the market in this area anyway but we're certainly less busy due to the levy."
Paul Allison, director of Sherburn Stone, near Durham, also blames the levy for a downturn in the amount of work available for his fleet of 30 tippers: "The amount of stone we have to shift is less than it was so I'm finding alternative non' quarry work for them if I can."
Following a survey of its members, the British Aggregates Association estimates the tax is generating 'quarry waste mountains' at the rate of up to 20 million tonnes a year. BAA secretary Peter Huxtable says the Midlands and the North-East are among the worst affected areas. However, he adds that some tipper operators could benefit from the tax because demand for exempted materials such as coal mining spoil and slate quarry waste should be increasing.