LARAC has confirmed that Carole Taylor will continue as Chair of the organisation for another two-year term. Ms Taylor, who is also LARAC’s North West representative, is one of the longest serving members of the Executive and has previously been Treasurer and Vice Chair before taking up the role of Chair in January 2018.
The announcement comes as LARAC continues to grow its membership, with over 300 UK local authorities now members. LARAC has put this continued increase down in part to the extensive work it undertook early this year in responding to the major consultations on Consistency, DRS and EPR. Members received early briefing notes from LARAC for each consultation, and then LARAC undertook member surveys, held several well attended workshops and shared draft responses with their members ahead of the consultation deadline. DEFRA highlighted evidence supplied by LARAC several times in their own responses to the consultation process in July.
Carole Taylor, Chair of LARAC, said “It has been an extremely busy two years in the role and I have been proud to be Chair of the LARAC Executive. The whole team has represented local authorities at a national level, fought their corner and helped people understand the challenges we face in local government. I am grateful for the support the Executive has given me. The fact our membership is growing shows we are working hard on our members’ behalf, representing their views and providing them with services they value. I believe a real strength of LARAC is the fact we represent all types of local authority officers equally; collection, disposal, unitary and waste partnerships. The next two years will bring huge changes to UK waste policy and I look forward to making sure the local authority voice is heard, representing council officers and leading LARAC through further growth”
LARAC has featured regularly in evidence giving sessions at House of Common Committees and provided comprehensive responses to the consistency, DRS and EPR consultation that numerous local authorities used as a base for their own responses. LARAC also holds a successful UK annual conference that this year moved to a larger site in Birmingham to accommodate the ever-increasing exhibitor and delegate numbers.
