Conditions have to be met before green light given for new contract

REDCAR and Cleveland Council cabinet members have been handed a potential headache after being asked to establish several preconditions before approval is given by the council to a contract for the operation of a new household waste incinerator.

- By STUART ARNOLD Local democracy reporter [e-mail]

A lengthy motion proposed by Councillor Dr Tristan Learoyd - an arch critic of the proposed Tees Valley Energy Recovery Facility (TVERF) and adopted at a full council meeting following a show of hands described various issues required to be resolved including:

■Clarifying what liabilities would fall to the council if the Environment Agency were to tighten emissions limits

■Confirming who would bear responsibility and cost for achieving carbon capture readiness

■Providing a comparative economic appraisal of making use of existing 'energy from waste' incinerator capacity in the North-East and elsewhere

■Confirming whether the contract to be signed contains minimum tonnage obligations and specifying any liabilities if the council, or all partner authorities, have significantly less residual waste to dispose of than assumed due to higher recycling etc

■The publication of a full business case for consultation

■Requiring annual public reporting on emissions; waste composition and other elements such as liabilities from the UK Emissions Trading Scheme, contract performance against targets and market testing of alternatives.

The TVERF is due to be sited on land at Teesworks, on the outskirts of Grangetown, a preferred tenderer - the company Viridor - having already been selected to finance, build and operate the plant after a procurement process. Supporters say it is a safe and reliable solution and by banding together the councils involved, whose existing waste treatment contracts are set to expire next year, will achieve economies of scale.