Borough fights on after permission refused for JR of county incinerator scheme

A borough council has vowed to fight on after being refused permission to bring judicial review proceedings over the award of PFI credits for an incinerator project in its area.

The Borough Council of King's Lynn & West Norfolk lodged papers with the High Court in April over the planned scheme, which is being pursued by Norfolk County Council.

It is seeking to challenge the decision by the Environment Secretary, Caroline Spelman, to award the £169m-worth of credits that will allow the project at Saddlebow to go ahead.

However, Mr Justice Eady has refused permission on the papers, saying there was no arguable case on irrationality or illegality.

King’s Lynn and West Norfolk will now request an oral hearing.

Its Leader, Cllr Nick Daubney, said: "We are disappointed that our case has not at this stage been given permission as we believe we have not yet received a satisfactory explanation for the Secretary of State Caroline Spelman's apparent change of heart. An oral hearing will give us the opportunity to persuade the judge of the merits of our case."

Cllr Daubney added that the authority’s focus would in the meantime be on pressing the case for Communities Secretary Eric Pickles to call in the application and instigate a public inquiry.

“People who have an interest in this matter deserve a fair and transparent hearing,” he said. “A public inquiry gives people the opportunity to make representations to an independent planning inspector."

Cllr Bill Borrett, Norfolk County Council cabinet member for environment and waste, said: "Given that Mr Justice Eady has already found there is no 'arguable case on irrationality or illegality' and that part of the argument 'appears to be based on a misreading of the term "broad consensus"', Norfolk taxpayers will want confirmation that the borough has clear advice that this this further legal process has a reasonable chance of success.

"I would question whether this decision is a good use of local taxpayers' money at a time when public finances are so tight. I'd also be interested to know what might be said in court that hasn't already been made abundantly clear to Mr Justice Eady and which led him to make what was a very clear ruling."

Cllr Borrett insisted that securing credits for the project over 25 years in January was “very positive news for Norfolk residents”, given that the grant represented the largest amount of central government funding for a single project that the county council had ever received.

He added: "Our case has been the subject of intense scrutiny over many months. There remain a number of crucially important hurdles to overcome, but this is another step forward for a project which will save Norfolk council taxpayers £8m a year - compared with the cost of using landfill to dispose of the same amount of waste."

Philip Hoult