County Council reconfirms Calvert incinerator decision

Following the call in by our County Councillor John Cartwright, the decision to award the incinerator contract to WRG at Calvert was reconsidered by the County Council cabinet. On 28th Feb they decided to reconfirm the decision.

From the County Council website:

Energy from Waste - where we are now
On 28th February 2011, the County Council’s Cabinet decided that Energy from Waste was the best option to manage the county’s waste, as they reaffirmed their decision to award preferred bidder status to Waste Recycling Group (WRG) with their facility at Greatmoor, near Calvert, north Buckinghamshire.

This followed the Overview and Scrutiny Commissioning Committee’s recommendations for Cabinet to reconsider the decision to award preferred bidder status to WRG and to seek clarification on financial, legal and planning aspects of their bid. The project team prepared a detailed response to these recommendations, which were provided as part of the Cabinet papers.

WRG’s proposed facility at Greatmoor, near Calvert would supply 22MW of electricity to the national grid, enough to power up to 36,000 homes in the area. The Council expects the facility to be operating by 2014, subject to WRG gaining planning and permitting consents. The contract, once agreed, will be for a 30 year period.

The project team will now work with WRG to clarify and confirm commitments and undertake final due diligence. The final decision to award the contract will be considered by the County Council’s Cabinet in the autumn of this year.

The decision to award Preferred Bidder status to WRG has been a procurement decision, not a planning exercise. WRG’s planning application will be decided by the independent Development Control Committee.

This is disappointing but not unexpected. It was clear that the County Council had effectively made up its mind, despite the many valid objections raised. The focus of attention now shifts to the planning application, which is likely to be hotly contested.