8:30am Saturday 4th September 2010
By Gavin Aitchison
WASTE management bosses in York and North Yorkshire have postponed a key decision on their controversial incinerator project.
North Yorkshire County Council and City of York Council were set to discuss a key report next month, but have deferred it until December.
David Bowe, corporate director for business and environmental services at the county council, defended the £900m project, planned for near Allerton Park, but said it would take longer than envisaged to prepare a sufficiently detailed report.
He said he was “confident” the contract with AmeyCespa made environmental sense and offered value for money, saving £320 million over 25 years.
He said: “Over the last two months we have been collating the comments and opinions we have received and we will continue to do so until our report is complete.”
City of York Council will now vote on the contract award on December 9, and county councillors will vote on it six days later.
The announcement of the postponement was welcomed yesterday by campaigners.
Steve Wright, chairman of North Yorkshire Waste Action Group (NYWAG) said: “If it goes ahead, this is the biggest, most expensive contract that North Yorkshire County Council has ever awarded.
“It will cost North Yorkshire £1.4 billion over the 25-year contract period, even if the council make the savings they claim in their PR campaign.
“It also shows that NYCC are reviewing waste volumes and listening to campaigners and rate payers’ concerns at a time of great austerity and planned public cuts.
“We were also pleased to see that the Spanish contractor, AmeyCespa, have acquired Donarbon, the contractors for the modern, green waste plant in Cambridgeshire, which we feel should be a model for what we would like to see in North Yorkshire.”
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