By Lucy Phillips
20 January 2011
Government plans to make councils pay European Union fines could cost town halls more than £1bn and should be halted, the Local Government Association said today.
The LGA has branded the proposals, which are contained in the Localism Bill, as ‘unfair, unworkable, dangerous and unconstitutional’.
Under the plans, local government would become liable for EU fines against the UK for missing national targets on areas such as improving air quality and boosting recycling rates.
The LGA said it was wrong to retrospectively localise EU targets. It warned that the impact could be felt almost immediately by already hard-pressed councils.
The UK is currently exceeding air pollution targets and has less than a year to get an extension from the EU or face a potential fine of £300m. The LGA claimed this risked adding £15 to the average annual council tax bill or equated to the loss of more than 12 million hours of home care for elderly people.
LGA chair Baroness Margaret Eaton said: ‘With budgets being cut by 28% over the next four years, if fines are levied, councils will have no choice but to either cut services or pass the cost onto residents.
‘We are calling on the government to talk to us about how national and local government can work together to ensure the UK does not become liable for fines in the first place.’
In an interview with Public Finance yesterday, local government minister Bob Neill said ministers were not considering any amendments to the Bill. This came despite fierce criticism levied at it during the secondreading in the Commons on Monday.
