Council faces complaint to competition watchdog over incinerator contract

A community-led recycling organisation has submitted a complaint to the Competition and Markets Authority claiming that a county council’s contract with an incinerator company breaks competition law.

Community R4C said a barrister provided through the Environmental Law Foundation was advising on its complaint about Gloucestershire County Council’s contract with UBB for the Javelin Park incinerator.

The organisation claimed that the contract stops (forecloses) all competition and prevents technological innovation. It argued that the price paid by the council meant that Gloucestershire was “subsidising UBB to then charge below-market price for the remaining plant capacity, stifling competition”.

“In addition, the punitive termination costs prevent competitors from having a look-in,” it claimed.

Community R4C said if its complaint was upheld, the contract could be declared void, and the local authority could face severe financial penalties.

Sue Oppenheimer, a Community R4C board member, said: “GCC should stop UBB from carrying out further work on site immediately, in order to limit liabilities.

“In addition, our analysis of the contract shows that, instead of providing value for money, as claimed by the council’s cabinet, this contract will be a huge financial burden for years to come. The council would save millions by terminating the contract right now.”

In response Nigel Riglar, commissioning director for communities and infrastructure at Gloucestershire, said: “The council ran a competitive process following procurement law to select a company to deal with of the county’s household waste that can’t be reduced, reused or recycled. We invited any company with any technology. R4C did not bid.

“The contract itself was originally written by central government and is used widely in hundreds of contracts covering waste, health, roads and infrastructure. It is available on the council’s website.

“The amount of waste to be treated is based on reaching 70% recycling, which would make us one of the best in Europe. We are currently at 51%.”

Riglar added: "The new facility saves taxpayers over £100m, makes enough clean electricity to power 25,000 homes and reduces carbon emissions by 40,000 tonnes. UBB has made good progress on construction and the facility will be operational in 2019.”