That is the warning from Defra, which has told letsrecycle.com that it is giving the two projects a last chance to demonstrate they can get their waste management plans back on track.
”Both contracts will need to demonstrate that things can be turned around or there is a possibility of the funding being pulled. “
– Defra
Surrey county council risks losing 85.5 million in PFI credits for its contract with SITA UK subsidiary Surrey Waste Management. The Herefordshire & Worcestershire partnership risks losing 57 million in credits for its contract with Focsa-subsidiary Severn Waste Management.
Both of the Private Finance Initiative contracts have had their plans thrown into turmoil by failed attempts to develop energy-from-waste incineration projects.
A spokeswoman for Defra said: “We continue to support Surrey, as well as Herefordshire & Worcestershire – despite elements of their PFI contracts that have not been delivered. Defra feels that these councils should be given the chance to turn their contracts around.
“But both contracts will need to demonstrate that things can be turned around or there is a possibility of the funding being pulled,” the Defra spokeswoman warned, adding that such a possibility would have to be investigated.
Surrey
As part of Surrey county council's 85.5 million waste PFI, two incinerators were originally proposed by Surrey Waste. Both of these facilities were eventually turned down by planners – a plant proposed for Capel was overturned after a judicial review, while a plant at Copyhold was turned down by the county council's planning committee.
”We see no reason for them to want to take back the grant – we are still working towards the PFI, just slower than expected. “
– Matt Burrows, Surrey CC
The problems have put severe strains on the relationship between Surrey county council and SITA, but the council now insists moves towards new waste infrastructure are underway.
County council spokesman Matt Burrows said: “We are currently looking into 13 different possible new sites for a waste management facility. Six of those sites are acceptable for thermal treatment and incineration.
“We are keeping the issue of what we build separate from where we build it, and once our residents have told us the sites they want to see us use we will be consulting on what facilities will be built. This consultation will take place in 2006,” Mr Burrows added.
Surrey believes it will avoid losing its PFI credits by getting the development process for new waste plants back on track. Mr Burrows said: “Defra can see that we have a clear path through these two consultations, the consultation next year is likely to be the most major thing that Surrey does in 2006.
“We see no reason for them to want to take back the grant – we are still working towards the PFI, just slower than expected,” the council spokesman insisted.
Hereford & Worcester
The partnership of Herefordshire and Worcestershire has also had difficulties with an energy-from-waste proposal for Kidderminster, in terms of securing land and planning permission.
Instead, the joint partnership is hoping to build a 100,000-tonne capacity steam autoclaving plant, with technology supplied by Estech Europe (see letsrecycle.com story).
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The partnership said it has already received the government's blessing for this change, and negotiations are underway to develop the proposal.
A spokesman for Worcestershire county council said: “Our PFI contract is in standstill while we negotiate over the Estech facility replacing the building of an incinerator. We asked the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister if it would like to comment on the change over and it said to carry on. We believe that Defra will still be happy with what we are doing.”
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