Agreed at a special meeting last week, the application to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs will lead to a 25-year waste contract with a total value of around 60 million. The contract is expected to be put out to tender in 2005 if the bid for PFI money is successful.
Commenting on the application, the council's executive member for environment and heritage, Howard Roberts, said: “These PFI credits will help us to move towards more sustainable forms of waste management, including minimisation, re-use, recycling and composting, and build on the existing close co-operation between the county and district councils.”
The application for PFI money needed reviewing in the light of the Cornwall Waste Local Plan, which was approved after rigorous public inspection last year, and subsequently formally adopted in December 2002. The successful bidder for the resulting PFI contract would be expected to raise recycling and composting rates in the county from 12% to 40% by 2010-11.
Matthew Taylor, MP for Truro and St Austell has already held meetings with environment minister Michael Meacher to gain government approval for the PFI investment.
Following the council's formal decision to apply for the funds, Mr Taylor said: “It is great news that the county councillors have given the go-ahead to an application to seek this PFI project. These plans would revolutionise waste management in Cornwall.”
Contract
The PFI contract would involve regular collections of dry recyclables, green waste and residual wastes. The contract would also see enhanced civic amenity sites, transfer stations, composting plants and materials recycling facilities. Energy from Waste could also be included in the contract.
The council said that the contract could see the sale of the council-owned County Environmental Services, or just its landfill and commercial-industrial waste management assets, to the successful bidder. However, the council would not contractually require any bidder to buy or use CES.
Mr Roberts said that the new contract would see a significant boost to employment in the county. “Where other counties have been through a similar process there has been a net increase in the number of jobs related to waste management and disposal, and we would expect the same to happen here,” he explained.
Despite the prospect of being sold, CES is proceeding with its planning application for a 110,000 tonne capacity resource recovery centre at near St Austell (see letsrecycle.com story).
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