BAA chief: Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund here to stay

Industry bodies are confident that the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund (ALSF) will not be scrapped as part of the comprehensive spending review.

British Aggregates Association (BAA) secretary Peter Huxtable said that despite some of the monies generated being siphoned off for unrelated projects, its existence was not under threat.

“Our gut feeling from discussions with the government is that the ALSF will not be removed,” he said.

“Within government circles there is not talk of it disappearing. They like this kind of initiative.” he said.

From April 2008 the Aggregates Levy will increase by 22%, but there has been no official commitment to the ALSF beyond March.

Quarry Products Association director general Simon Van der Byl said: “We have made strong representations to government about the future of the ALSF.

 
“As the rate of the Levy increases, we believe that the case for maintaining the fund and refocusing on carbon reduction is compelling.”

The BAA and QPA are calling for the fund to be ring-fenced to prevent money being redirected into unrelated projects. In the four years from 2002 to 2006 only £83m of the £117m total ALSF provision has been provided by Defra.

Huxtable continued: “If the money is not ring-fenced then not only we will continue to see Defra siphoning it off but this activity may move down to Local Authority level.

"This has already occurred in Derbyshire, where the fund has been used to make up a shortfall in other areas," he said.