The issue of waste continues to make the headlines in
Last month, the Council admitted it is responsible for 90
per cent of SITA’s legal costs in dealing with the legal challenges brought by
local campaigners (£130,000). This is set out in the “Integrated Waste
Management Contract” agreed between the former County Council and SITA in 2006.
The Supreme Court will announce in July whether the latest
challenge will be allowed to proceed to court.
But at a meeting on 20th June, Cornwall Council’s ruling
Cabinet will be deciding whether to exercise its option to purchase land (from
clay company Imerys) for the access road to the proposed incinerator site.
This was discussed at last week’s Waste Panel, when it was announced
that the option must be exercised by 28th June or it will expire. The cost of
the land would be a massive £3,550,000.
As someone who opposed the incinerator at the 2010 Public
Inquiry, I know that the former County Council was determined to dump the
incinerator in the China Clay Area at St Dennis. They were not interested in
other locations, and studies to “identify” the best sites for the plant were
carried out after the Council had already decided on their preferred location.
Evidence presented at the Inquiry demonstrated that Cornwall
Council had “chosen” the St Dennis site at an early stage and throughout 2005
were looking in detail at the site.
The contract was agreed in October 2006 and specifically
included the construction of an incinerator at St Dennis.
But at last week’s meeting, one of the officers (who had
been involved with the project for many years) admitted that it wasn’t until after
the Council has signed the contract that they realised the road access was
unacceptable. It was only then that they decided to find a new way to access
the site with land purchase costs alone of over three and a half million
pounds.
This is yet another example of the issue of waste management
has been mishandled at County Hall. Shocking!
Monday 11 June 2012
Waste: More revelations from Cornwall Council
Posted by Dick Cole at 11:16
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
What's the betting they will authorise £3.5 million for an access road to an incinerator nobody wants when they wouldn't spend a penny on a stadium everybody wants! Not that long until election time folks. Make sure you remember.
Nick Tamblin
"It was not until after the Council has signed the contract that they realised the road access was unacceptable."
What the hell are they doing signing a contract without conducting ALL the appropriate checks. You can download a list from online for goodness sake.
Find who was responsible for this and issue proceedings - they have failed at their job to the cost of £Millions.
Post a Comment