Cheshire councils take on Defra over axed PFI credits
The two unitary councils in Cheshire are to launch legal action over the government’s withdrawal of more than £100m of PFI support for a waste treatment scheme in the county.
Cheshire West and Chester and Cheshire East said they had taken the decision after receiving legal advice from leading counsel and holding meetings with officials at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
The councils’ legal advisers are expected to apply to the High Court next week for permission to issue judicial review proceedings.
The two authorities said they had spent more than £4.5m on the procurement process for a mechanical and biological treatment plant at a former chemical works in Northwich. Viridor had been appointed as the provisional preferred bidder.
The Cheshire scheme was one of seven local authority schemes to be ditched in the Comprehensive Spending Review.
Mike Jones, Leader of Cheshire West and Chester Council, said: “We have decided to take this joint action because we believe that the methodology used by Defra to assess the merit of our scheme was seriously flawed. Also, it is our opinion that the assessment process has under-estimated the benefits which would accrue from that scheme.”
Jones said the council recognised the need for the government to make cuts to put the country back on a firm financial footing. “However, a considerable amount of public money has been spent on a four-year process and I believe we have a duty to our council taxpayers pursue this issue with Defra,” he added.
Cheshire East Leader, Wesley Fitzgerald, said both councils had believed that there was government support for the scheme right up to the announcement that PFI credits were being withdrawn.
He added: “Not only has much time, effort and money been wasted believing that we were approaching this issue in a manner which had government approval but this decision would take us back to square one. We are still in the position of having to find a sustainable method of disposing of Cheshire’s household waste over the next 25 years.”
A spokesman for Defra said the department was unable to comment while legal proceedings were pending.
