Plymouth starts ball rolling on PFI bid

The city council's cabinet members are expected to start the PFI (Private Finance Initiative) ball rolling when they meet today (September 25, 2007) by agreeing to submit an “Expression of Interest” to Defra.

This is the first stage of securing capital funding from the government for major waste treatment facilities and if it is approved, Plymouth will be asked to submit a more detailed “Outline Business Case” before any tendering process can begin.

However, Plymouth said it has not committed itself to pursuing PFI and at this stage is hedging its funding bets. A public private partnership and other “prudential borrowing powers” are still on the table. However, applications for PFI funding are considered every six months, so the council wanted to express interest before the current round deadline of September 30.

Waste projects and commercial manager Mark Turner said: “This is a long term project and an incredibly complex one. We need to look at all finance options while at the same time explore what sort of facilities could go on the ground and where.”

Partnership

Plymouth, a unitary disposal authority, also wants to explore the possibility of partnerships with neighbouring disposal authorities, Devon county council and Torbay borough council.

Plymouth's cabinet member for street scene and environmental regulation, Councillor Michael Leaves, added: “This is an important piece of work as we could get a significant percentage of the building costs under Private Finance initiative credit system.

He added: “We are also looking at possible partners in this venture which could cost anything from £60 to £110 million. Waste is a national, regional and local issue and it makes sense to explore possible arrangements with Devon county council and Torbay council.”

Energy-from-waste came out at as the preferred treatment option in an analysis of residual waste treatment facilities carried out for the council's new Municipal Waste Management Strategy. However, if the council decided to take the PFI road, it will likely keep an open mind about the type of technology which could be used.

Aside from PFI funding, councillors at tomorrow's meeting will also look at proposals to expand Plymouth's garden waste collection across the whole city as well as explore options for a new trade waste recycling service.