Consultant drops multi-million pound claim against council over waste project

A consultant has dropped a multi-million pound claim against a Scottish council over a waste management project, just weeks before the case was due to go to trial.

Barry Phelps, a director of management consultants D & P Management Enterprises, commenced legal action in August 2013.

He had been brought on board by Scottish Borders Council as a consultant to assist the local authority in connection with the procurement of an integrated waste management facility at Easter Langlee, near Galashiels.

The Court of Session was scheduled to hear the case this month. The trial was expected to last 11 days.

D & P Management Enterprises agreed to drop the claim on 5 March. It will pay £20,000 towards Scottish Borders’ legal fees, which amount to £36,416.

A final court order absolving the council from the claim was granted on Friday (13 March).

Tracey Logan, chief executive of Scottish Borders, said: “The council had a duty to protect the public purse from this very large claim. The amount of council funds potentially exposed here was over £5.2m, plus both sides’ legal costs.

“It is well known that even where a court case is won, there are inevitably substantial irrecoverable costs. We are pleased that Mr Phelps has agreed not to proceed with this claim.”

Logan added: “The council disputed this claim in its entirety and argued that no sum was due. We have been confident since the claims were submitted nearly four years ago and the court case was raised 19 months ago that our stance was the correct one. We are obviously very pleased that Mr Phelps has, belatedly, agreed that the council’s position should not be challenged.”

Last month councillors at Scottish Borders unanimously approved a report recommending the termination of a 24-year contract with New Earth Solutions for the integrated waste management facility.

“This decision had no bearing on the Court of Session case as far as we are concerned,” the local authority said.

“D & P Management Enterprises had claimed that even though the integrated waste management facility had not been built and no savings had been made from the plant by us, ‘gain share’ payments exceeding £4.2m were still due, with interest to be added if the claim had been successful.”