The South London Waste Partnership has today (October 29) vowed to continue with its waste procurement process despite having its £112.9 million PFI funding award withdrawn in last week's Spending Review.
PFI funding was an option for the Partnership and not something it was entirely reliant on
Spokesman, South London Waste Partnership
The four council members – Croydon, Merton, Sutton and Kingston – claimed that the partnership was not “entirely reliant” on the PFI funding in order to develop waste infrastructure which it set to have the capacity handle 200,000 tonnes of waste-a-year over the next 25 to 30 years.
The Partnership, known as the SLWP was among seven council waste treatment projects to have their PFI funding withdrawn last week, as the government said they were no longer necessary for the UK to meet its landfill diversion goals (see letsrecycle.com story).
The decision was met with a mixture of disappointment and outright anger from those affected, with the North London Waste Partnership in particular labeling the move as “bizarre” (see letsrecycle.com story).
The SLWP was among those who expressed their disappointment at the move last week, and today reiterated that, but a spokesman for the partnership also claimed that “PFI funding was an option for the Partnership and not something it was entirely reliant on”.
He added: “What has not been announced are any plans to relax the challenging landfill reduction targets, and associated increases in Landfill Tax, that councils across the country are expected to meet in the years to come. The rising cost of landfill means that it will soon be cheaper to treat waste than to bury it in the ground.”
Shortlist
Prior to the announcement of the funding withdrawal the South London Waste Partnership had named a four-bidder shortlist for its long-term contract to provide a residual waste treatment solution for the four councils, which was said to be worth in the region of £990 million (see letsrecycle.com story).
And, the spokesman said: “The Partnership's negotiation team has been working hard with bidders over the last 14 months to ensure that the proposals being developed for new waste treatment facilities are affordable and provide best value, even without PFI credits.”
He added that the partnership had looked at the impact of the withdrawal of PFI credits and concluded that it was still “well placed” to deliver the necessary waste infrastructure. And, it added that the removal of the funding could potentially allow “more flexibility” around the contract structure.
The spokesman said: “The Partnership now intends to use this additional commercial freedom to its advantage and seek to secure even better value for money from the three bidders that remain in the competitive dialogue process.”
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