Eustice joins campaign to reverse dredging Landfill Tax change. Former Environment Secretary George Eustice has joined a campaign to reverse the Treasury's decision to remove a Landfill Tax exemption for materials used to treat dredged waste. He warns the change, due in April 2027, will damage UK ports and cost local authorities at least £20 million a year.
The exemption covers stabilising agents, including ash residues from energy from waste plants, used to dry and solidify contaminated sediment before it can be sent to landfill. The Treasury, which confirmed the change alongside the November Budget, describes the current arrangement as a loophole. Eustice argues the exemption was a deliberate choice, in place since 1996, to protect ports and navigation routes, and that officials have presented settled policy as a drafting error.
He says the measure would raise around £25 million a year for the Exchequer while the cost to councils, likely to fall back on the Treasury under the new burdens doctrine, would leave little net benefit. Industry has warned that the April 2027 timetable allows no time to build the alternative treatment infrastructure required, which depends on planning permission and environmental permits that take years to secure.
