Aggregates levy relief for Northern Ireland

LAST month the European Commission gave its approval for the extension of the aggregates levy relief scheme in Northern Ireland. The new scheme, backdated to 1 April this year, will fix the levy for both processed and virgin aggregate at 32p a tonne until 2012, provided operators agree to implement environmental improvements to their operations.

Welcoming the change, Gordon Best, regional director of the Quarry Products Association Northern Ireland, said: ‘This is tremendous news for the aggregates industry in Northern Ireland, and its customers. Today’s introduction shows that the Government has been prepared to listen to the case we have made and respond with a workable scheme that will raise environmental standards throughout the quarrying industry in the Province.’

However, Mr Best warned that there would be costs involved in implementing the new environmental standards, but he said that these would be nothing compared to the costs in economic and environmental terms had the levy been left unchanged.

The new scheme received a more cautious welcome from the British Aggregates Association, which is continuing to argue that the plan for Northern Ireland ignores the increasing problems being faced by quarry operators across the UK as a direct result of the aggregates levy.

BAA director Robert Durward commented: ‘While the European Commission’s approval of the scheme is good news for our members in Northern Ireland, the new relief scheme does not address the problems faced by aggregate producers in the rest of the UK, which are the same in many respects as those experienced in Northern Ireland.’

The BAA says it wants the Government to conduct an urgent review of the aggregates levy throughout the UK and has pledged to continue its legal fight against the levy, which remains before both the UK courts and the European Court of First Instance.

‘The BAA has worked with the Government over many years to address the problems caused by the levy across the UK, but the Government has not found a solution,’ said Mr Durward. ‘We are continuing our long-standing legal challenge to the levy because it is the best way to protect the interests of both the environment and independent quarry operators.’