Bracknell Forest borough council, Reading borough council and Wokingham council are negotiating with WRG to provide an incinerator to handle the councils' non-recyclable waste.
” Defra has got the final business case for the Re3 project for clearing, hopefully it will be signed off in October. “
– Defra
The contract has already suffered major delays – originally contractual close was due to take place in March 2005.
Councillors do not want any further delays because the cost of the contract quoted by WRG is already increasing because of the slippage.
Deadline
According to the council, the meeting in Bracknell on Wednesday night – September 20 – saw councillors telling officers the contract had to be signed by October 31, which means contractual negotiations have to be finalised by October 17.
This is not the first time fears have been raised about the contract. In January this year councillors voiced concerns about an increase in costs proposed by WRG. At the time officers said that this could be put down to the “slippage of the project” as well as landfill prices.
Officers maintain that the contract will provide value for money for the three councils.
As well as negotiating with WRG the three councils, working under the RE3 project banner, are waiting to get their business case approved by Defra. The project is backed by 37 million in PFI funding and the council has to meet specific Defra criteria in order to finalise the contract.
A spokeswoman for Defra said: “Defra has got the final business case for the Re3 project for clearing, hopefully it will be signed off in October. Discussions are ongoing and the normal pattern is for discussions to go on right up to the point of signature.”
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