Reform has no appetite for incinerator's 'horrible deal'

MORE doubt has been cast over the future of a controversial North East waste incinerator, after a council leader revealed his party could seek to exit the “horrible deal”.

- DANIEL HOLLAND Local Democracy Reporter @ChronicleLive

Councillors in Newcastle voted last week in favour of withdrawing from the Tees Valley Energy Recovery Facility (TVERF), a vast compound due to be built near Redcar which could burn up to 450,000 tonnes of waste every year from seven of the region’s councils.

Despite that vote at last week’s full council meeting, it appears unlikely at this stage that Newcastle's Labour cabinet will agree to pull out of a contract that could run for up to 40 years and has been valued at more than £2 billion.

But Durham County Council leader Andrew Husband has now intervened in the debate, urging counterparts on Tyneside to honour the outcome of councillors’ vote and saying his Reform UK administration has “no appetite” for the scheme.

Durham is one of the other six councils involved in the contract, alongside the five from the Tees Valley area.

But Coun Husband told the Local Democracy Reporting Service this week that he shares fears about local authorities missing out on the benefits of new technology if they are locked into a decades-long contract requiring them to send waste to the Grangetown incinerator.