Six more authorities bid for PFI funding for waste

Currently nine councils have waste management contracts signed with the help of PFIs from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. A further 12 local authorities are in the procurement process for contracts, such as Greater Manchester and Nottinghamshire.

”As we are still at the very early stages of each of these contracts it is too early to talk about values yet “
– Defra
The further six local authorities are currently in talks with Defra are Buckinghamshire, Cheshire, Dorset, Essex, Merseyside and North Yorkshire.

Of the councils, Dorset is the closest to securing funding as it is currently in the process of outlining its business case. Essex and Cheshire have both expressed interest in applying for PFI funding, while the remaining three are at the very early stage and have merely indicated that they would be interested in using PFI funding.

A spokesman for Defra told letsrecycle.com: “As we are still at the very early stages of each of these contracts it is too early to talk about values yet. Dorset is set to outline its business case so a response will not be too far off, but for those that have simply indicated an interest in the PFI route there is still a very long way to go.”

Authorities that already have PFI backed contracts signed are:

• Isle of Wight – 13 million – signed 1997/98 – Biffa
• Kirklees – 33.9 million – signed 1997/98 – SITA
• Hereford and Worcester – 57 million – signed 1998/99 – Focsa
• South Gloucestershire – 33.3 million – signed 1999/00 – SITA
• Surrey – 85.5 million – signed 1999/00 – SITA
• ELWA – 47 million – signed 2002/03 – Shanks
• East Sussex, Brighton and Hove – 49 million – signed 2002/03 – Onyx
• Leicester – 30.841 million – signed 2003/04 – Biffa
• West Sussex – 25 million – signed 2003/04 – Viridor

Cambridge, Cornwall, Gloucestershire, the Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority, Lancashire, Northumberland, Nottinghamshire, Shropshire Waste Partnership, Southwark, Wakefield metropolitan district, West Berkshire and a partnership in Berkshire between Bracknell forest, Reading and Wokingham are all in the procurement process for waste PFI contracts.