Norfolk county council has published the terms of reference for an independent inquiry into its decision to sign a 500 million energy-from-waste (EfW) waste contract with Cory Wheelabrator in February 2012.
The news comes ahead of a meeting today (May 27) that will consider a report from the authoritys interim head of finance which recommends reducing the 2013-14 and 2014-15 council budgets by 3.44 million in order to fund costs of terminating the contract.
It follows revelations last week that the costs to the council of terminating the deal are 3.4 million more than previously anticipated. Norfolk council has until July 14 2014 to pay the remaining compensation to Cory Wheelabrator around 33.7 million in total (see letsrecycle.com story).
The council formally terminated the contract which included the proposed development of a 268,000 tonnes per year capacity EfW plant in Kings Lynn earlier this month due to escalating costs and delays in a planning decision from communities secretary Eric Pickles (see letsrecycle.com story).
An independent inquiry into the councils decision to award the contract to Cory Wheelabrator was announced in April 2014, with the outcome of the review expected later this year (see letsrecycle.com story).
Independent
Previously a Liberal Democrat Norfolk councillor from 1985 to 2001, Stephen Revell has been appointed to lead the inquiry as the Independent Person to the authoritys standards committee.
The terms of reference published on Friday (May 23) state that Mr Revells review will consider all matters relevant, especially political and technical, that led to the decision to processed with and award a contract to build a power and recycling facility.
The review will also examine councillor involvement in the process as well as their relationship and dealing with council officers who had delegated authority to act on behalf of the authority.
Mr Revell will also look specifically at the role of the majority group the Conservative Party played at the time the contract was signed in 2012 to find out why the council was not consulted before the contract was awarded.
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Elsewhere, the review will consider the role of the planning and scrutiny committees and how and why their make-up changed prior to consideration of this issue.
And, comparing the Norfolk contract process with those of other local authorities, the review will examine the termination costs and the consultation with the public and other statutory bodies.
Members of the public who wish to submit information to Mr Revell to be considered as part of the review must do so by 5pm on June 19 2014.
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