Buckinghamshire county councillors yesterday (December 14) voted to call-in the council's decision name Waste Recycling Group as preferred bidder for its long-term residual waste treatment contract.
I am more than happy to have further discussions with the committee to ensure they have the correct information to enable them to make an informed decision
Cllr Martin Tett, Buckinghamshire county council
In the latest development in the ongoing saga surrounding the 25-year deal, the council's overview scrutiny and commissioning committee's members decided there were sufficient grounds to call for further investigation into the county council's decision to award the Northampton-based firm preferred bidder status at the end of November (see letsrecycle.com story).
At the meeting yesterday, county councillor John Greenwood presented the case for the decision to be called-in and both sides of the argument will now be heard in January 2011. The overview and scrutiny committee will then decide whether they feel that the cabinet should look at the decision again.
Scrutiny committee chairman Trevor Egleton said: “The call-in process is an important part of the transparent democratic process. It gives local county councillors an opportunity to represent residents' concerns, and the wider council membership the opportunity to be involved in scrutinising decisions.”
U-turn
Buckinghamshire had named Waste Recycling Group (WRG) as front-runner for the deal last month after taking the option to reopen negotiations for the contract in March 2010. WRG plans to build a 300,000 tonnes-a-year capacity energy-from-waste incinerator at Calvert.
The announcement of WRG as preferred bidder marked a spectacular u-turn in the contract process, with American incineration specialist Covanta Energy originally named preferred bidder for the deal ahead of WRG in September 2009.
However, negotiations were reopened with the two firms after Covanta alerted the county council to an undisclosed “commercial matter” regarding its proposed 390,000 tonnes-a-year capacity energy-from-waste incinerator at Rookery Pit (see letsrecycle.com story).
Commenting on the call-in decision, councillor Martin Tett, cabinet member for planning and environment, said: “I am more than happy to have further discussions with the committee to ensure they have the correct information to enable them to make an informed decision.
“We have followed a robust procurement process, which would be good for the environment and help save Buckinghamshire council taxpayers more than £100 million in landfill costs, over the life of the WRG contract.”
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