Lib Dems force review of county cabinet decision on incinerators

11.14.00am BST (GMT +0100) Wed 9th Sep 2009

Oxfordshire needs to work out how to dispose of residual waste which can't be recycled

Liberal Democrat county councillors in Oxfordshire have "called in" a decision made on Monday by the Conservative cabinet to choose a preferred bidder for an energy-from-waste plant at Ardley, near the M40. One of the council's scrutiny committees will now have to consider whether the decision process was fully in line with the rules, before it can take effect.

Disposing of the county's waste is the biggest single issue that has faced us for many years - one about which the public are rightly very concerned. Liberal Democrats take exception to the fact that the publicity around the cabinet meeting to decide on the preferred bidder for waste disposal for the next 25 years. has been so poor. The special meeting of cabinet was announced on a Bank Holiday Monday and did not appear in the meetings calendar on the county website for many days. The papers for the meeting were only available on the website from Thursday 3rd September and people could only find it if they knew their way around the County's website.

Cllr Anne Purse, Lib Dem Shadow Cabinet member for Growth & Infrastructure, said, "I am very disappointed that the County Council did not go out of its way to publicise this extra meeting much better, especially given the likely level of public interest in this matter. The opposition were not even told directly, but left to find out about this meeting, just like the public. One is led to wonder if the lack of publicity was deliberate - to try to cut down protests and public demonstrations. I am also surprised that the Cabinet meeting is being held before the Planning & Regulation Committee has met, thus potentially putting political pressure on the Committee to agree planning permission for the preferred bidder."

Liberal Democrats have long held the position that the waste disposal option chosen by the County Council should be the most environmentally-friendly and sustainable solution available. When the tendering process threw up only energy-from-waste options, they tried to get the Council to consider a specific "break clause" in the contract so that new technologies could be added in the future as they became available and viable.

During the cabinet meeting, there was also confusion over which requirements in the original invitation to tender were considered mandatory, and which optional.

For these and other reasons, the Lib Dems and councillors from other parties which have supported the call-in, feel that the decision process has not been transparent and does not result in an outcome which the general public can have confidence damages the environment least.