BEaR Project to submit renewed PFI bid next month

Defra have demonstrated confidence in the BEaR Project and our goal is to secure this funding for both authorities

 
Cllr Budge Wells, BEaR Project

The Project – which began as a partnership of Central Bedfordshire, Bedford borough and Luton councils – had its previous application for £220 million worth of PFI funding in April 2009 turned down following concerns over the security of its reference site at Rookery Pit near Stewartby.

And, following the rejection, American energy-from-waste specialist Covanta Energy purchased the Rookery Pit site with the intention of developing an energy-from-waste facility of its own.

However, the council partnership has since managed to purchase another reference site at the former Brogborough landfill site from Northamptonshire-based Waste Recycling Group (see letsrecycle.com story).

There had been concerns that the project would be terminated when Bedford borough council opted to withdraw from the Project in September 2009 over fears of escalating costs.

But, Defra has given assurances that the two councils will still be able to put forward a bid in December for £79 million in funding.

Councillor Budge Wells, spokesperson for the BEaR Project, said: “Defra have demonstrated confidence in the BEaR Project and our goal is to secure this funding for both authorities.”

“Unworkable”

The councils are hopeful that a successful bid would receive funding in March 2010 as part of the fourth round of PFI applications.

However, one industry expert has raised concerns that the Project may struggle to attract commercial interest due to the presence of the proposed Covanta facility.

He told letsrecycle.com: “Given the proximity between the Brogborough and the Covanta site at Stewartby, the project cannot hope to attract sufficient market interest and the eventual outcome will either be an award through due process to Covanta or a planning application for a second incinerator so close to the Covanta site as to be unworkable.”

And, he said that face-to-face meetings had been held by the Project with 10 waste treatment companies, including WRG, German incineration specialist MVV Umwelt and even Covanta.

A spokeswoman for the BEaR Project disputed the claim and said that the PFI bid and the Project as a whole would continue undeterred.

She said: “The Covanta proposal does not alter the BEaR Project procurement process, which will be undertaken on a technology neutral basis, thus enabling innovation and greater competition. The decision to select a site on the edge of the Brogborough landfill has been made as it is a better option for the partnership.”

The councils said the revised bid was technology neutral, despite its previous reference technology being a 250,000 tonnes-a-year capacity energy-from-waste facility.