Black Country borough moves MBT and MRF plans forward

Sandwell metropolitan borough council in the West Midlands, wants to build a number of facilities as part of a contract which has an estimated value of £250 million over 10 years. They include:

• a mechanical biological treatment plant (MBT) which could process between 60,000 to 80,000 tonnes of “black bag” waste a year and potentially produce a refuse derived fuel

• a materials recycling facility (MRF) which could process 50,000 to 60,000 tonnes annually

• a composting facility to handle 20,000 tonnes of green waste each year and enable Sandwell to introduce commingled kitchen and garden waste collections

The proposed site is 30 acres of industrial land in Hill Top, West Bromwich, which is currently used for open storage of materials and is occupied by a “number of old and under-used industrial buildings”.

CPO

Cllr Bob Badham, the council's member for regeneration and transport, is to consider the case for a CPO (Compulsory Purchase Order) tonight (Wednesday, September 19). A CPO is a legal power which allows local authorities to buy land even if the owner does not consent. The purchase must be in the public interest and affected parties will receive compensation. 

Sandwell is setting money aside to buy the properties and businesses which will make way for its waste treatment development. The project will also include a building for the council's street cleaning services, which will be housed between the MRF and MBT.

Cllr Badham said: “The Hill Top strategic regeneration area has been identified as a major opportunity for future jobs growth in Sandwell.

“There is a detailed planning framework for the area which promotes environmental technology industries there, underpinned by a resource recovery park with the council's waste centre at its heart.”

He added: “The aim is for this to be the catalyst for wider regeneration of the area by the council working in partnership with the urban regeneration company Regenco and the regional development agency, Advantage West Midlands.

“As green technologies grow and become increasingly important over time, there is the potential for hundreds if not thousands of new jobs for Sandwell – and for the borough to take a lead in the environmental field.”

If the CPO goes according to plan, the council will lodge a planning application for the site in November. The contract is expected to go out to tender for a waste partner next year and the council has said any new arrangements are not expected to start before July 2009.

It is thought the contract will run until 2020, when the borough's waste arisings are expected to be 200,000 tonnes. The target date for completion of the facilities is 2012.

Finances

The council has said it would expect any firms bidding for the contract to invest around £30 million in designing, building and operating the plants. This would be in return for a yearly payment to the company over the life of the contract.

PFI

Sandwell's head of environmental services Jan Britton said the council was not considering PFI.

He explained: “We think that we will offer a more attractive proposition to potential partners and get better value for money from a simpler form of contract. The project is not big enough to sustain the time and costs of PFI, but we will be following PFI best practice and protocols where these add value to our process.”

It is expected that the new centre will boost Sandwell's recycling from the 2007 rate of 20% to 50% by 2015. Cllr Mahboob Hussain, cabinet member for neighbourhoods and housing, has pledged to keep weekly bin collections. He also ruled out “pay as you throw” and “chip in bin” schemes.

Sandwell council works in partnership with Community Recycling Venture (CRV) – believed to be the UK's largest community kerbside recycling scheme – to collect recyclables across the borough. Paper, cans, clothes and textiles, glass are picked-up weekly from housholders, in green boxes or green bags. There are also plans to introduce a garden waste collection scheme.