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What is the Select Committee?

The Select Committee is a local community initiative, modelled on the Select Committees of the UK Parliaments. It has held a series of public hearings, to decide what is the best Waste Strategy for Newcastle. At the hearings, members of the Select Committee received and cross-examined evidence from expert witnesses on a variety of topics, in order to take into account the environmental, health and employment impacts of the different options for dealing with the city's domestic waste.

Preparatory meeting of the BAN Waste Select Committee, on 6th September 2001

What is the Select Committee doing?

Please see the for an overview of the role of the Select Committee in recommending a sustainable waste strategy for the city of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

The Select Committee was set up by BAN Waste, although it operates independently of the group and will write its own independent report. The members are mainly lay people, taken from the membership of BAN Waste, the City Council and a few representative organisations. The Select Committee was chaired for the first phase of its work by Andrew Bennett, MP for Denton and Reddish. Andrew Bennett chaired the House of Commons select committee inquiry into sustainable waste management.

Following the first phase of 9 sessions, an Interim Report has been produced analysing the current waste situation in Newcastle and containing general recommendations for a sustainable waste strategy. This is available on-line from the link in the navigation bar on the left of the screen.

A full report, for Newcastle City Council and the people of the city, will be produced at the end of the next phase (during 2003), to recommend the best possible long-term waste policies for the city. The Cabinet of Newcastle City Council has agreed to hear the report, and will consider the options which will be put to them by the Select Committee for handling Newcastle's rubbish.

The Select Committee will both allow public input into decisions and will help to inform Newcastle residents. This is an excellent opportunity for Newcastle to introduce ground-breaking policies for real public involvement in decision-making and to introduce a world leading waste strategy.

Andrew Bennett, MP, said at the opening session of the Select Committee, on 6th September 2001:

As I see it, the challenge of this inquiry is to raise the awareness of the people of Newcastle as to why waste management is a major issue; to find out what people are prepared to do about it; and how the Local Council can facilitate what local people want to do.

Jenni Madison, Chair of the BAN Waste group which set up the Select Committee, who lives on the Byker estate, said when the group received funding for the Select Committee process:

Now that we have secured this funding, we hope to move forward in partnership with the Council to develop the very best waste strategy for the city: one that will be good for people's health, good for jobs, and good for the environment.