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Making life better for people by inspiring solutions to environmental problems

Budget Warning - ‘Don't Bury Quarry Tax'

Friends of the Earth Urge Chancellor

Friends of the Earth (Northern Ireland) has urged Gordon Brown to reject calls by the quarry industry not to introduce the aggregates tax in Northern Ireland. In a briefing [1] to the Chancellor Friends of the Earth described how the aggregates tax will help to stimulate the Northern Ireland economy and asked him not to grant an exemption in Wednesday's Budget. On 21 March 2000, the Chancellor announced a tax of £1.60 per tonne on the extraction of sand, gravel and stone to come into effect in 2002.

The briefing challenges the Quarry Products Association's (QPA) gloomy picture of the future and describes how the aggregates tax can assist in creating up to 6000 new jobs [2] in areas such as organic farming, tourism, aggregates recycling, alternative construction materials and producer retailing initiatives. Most of these jobs will be in rural areas which have been hardest hit in recent years and are now suffering because of the foot and mouth crisis.

Declan Allison of Friends of the Earth said:

"There is a danger that Northern Ireland could get left behind if we don't modernise and adapt to changing times. Green taxes of this type will be an inevitable part of future economics and we must seize this opportunity to get ahead of the game."

He added:

"The aggregates tax will give Northern Ireland businesses many opportunities to innovate and diversify in imaginative ways and create thousands of new jobs. Critically, these opportunities, which depend on a high quality environment, are threatened by continued growth in quarrying. We must ask ourselves if we want to continue to support 'dinosaur' industries like quarrying or invest in a modern, efficient future."

Friends of the Earth has also called on the Chancellor to announce a range of environmental measures in the Budget on Wednesday. These include a tax credit for investment in off shore wind, wave and solar power. Northern Ireland has one of the best wind and wave resources in Europe and companies such as Harland and Wolff are ideally placed to build the turbines and barriers, creating hundreds of secure jobs in the process.

Notes

[1] (back) The briefing, 'The Aggregates Tax in Northern Ireland', can be found here.

[2] (back) The 6000 new jobs amount to a net increase of 2000 jobs over the QPA's predicted job loses. Full details are available in the briefing.