TOWN Hall chiefs at Warrington are poised to appoint specialist advisors to assist with the provision of a waste-to-energy facility for the borough – an incinerator to burn rubbish.
The borough council has already carried out a tendering exercise for provision of technical advice and on awarding a 
contract will then instruct the successful tenderer to draw up a detailed Outline Business Case (OBC) at a cost of around £50,000.
But Coun Alan Litton, (pictured) executive member for environment and transport, stresses in a report to the council board that in commissioning the OBC, the council is not committing itself to going ahead with the incinerator plan.
He says: “The OBC would need to successfully prove the potential need for such a facility.
“We also need to look closely at funding options, options, potential sites as well as the development of waste disposal facilities around Warrington.
“If other suitable facilities become available the authority needs to investigate these to see if they are a usable option.”
The council approved its Municipal Waste Management Strategy last year, following extensive consultation in 2008. The strategy commits the authority to meet new targets for recycling, waste minimisation and carbon reduction, moving away from landfill.
According to the council, 65.7 per cent of people consulted thought waste-to-energy was the right option for Warrington, with only 10.7 per cent against.
If the authority fails to meet government targets for reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill it will incur fines of £150 per tonne for every tonne sent to landfill above the target.
Currently the town sends more than 50,000 tonnes to landfill every year but in 10 years it must reduce this to 20,513 tonnes.
The executive board is due to appoint a technical advisor tonight (Monday).
4 Comments
What a strange time to be making decisions like this! The present executive board might not be the executive board in just over a fortnights time! Surely the choice of specialist advisers should be for those who will have to work with them in the long term, for those who may be in power for just two weeks to be awarding lucrative contracts like this is ridiculous, this decision should be postponed until after the elections. It doesn’t even seem as if the basic groundwork has been done yet, no money, no site and not even any clear committment so why are they spending 50k which could well be money just wasted???? and why the rush???
“The present executive board might not be the executive board in just over a fortnights time! ”
One lives in hope!
Wish I could afford to spend money to get other people to make decisions for my business. If the people involved don’t understand the issues and can’t or won’t make decisions, then why are they even in the job in the first place?
We’re already doing better than expected at recycling and the target of 55% by 2020 now looks a certainty. Start burning the recycled stuff though (which almost certainly will happen) and people won’t make the effort thus forcing us to incinerate even more.
Agree with you there Bill. The recycling percentages are probably even higher than are noted as many people are now using sites like Warrington Freegle (used to be part of Freecycle) and its amazing just what gets recycled to new homes on there almost immediately. From half tins of paint… to odd planks of wood… to garden plants…. to broken electrical items…. to clothing… to rubble… right through to really good stuff such as furniture, tv’s, working electrical items… I could go on and on. I give away loads of stuff on there that is far to good to be tipped and often too bulky or not suitable for local charity shops. Shame the facility of ‘freegling’ is only available to people with pc’s and internet access though as some of the stuff I’ve seen being dumped in the crushers at the local tip looks like new…. People need educating 🙂