Member Article

Authorities’ new waste deal to save £12 million per year

Lancashire County Council and Blackpool Council have agreed a new deal on the commercial arrangements for their waste-processing operations.

Waste from across Lancashire goes to two processing facilities at Thornton and Farington, introduced in response to the central government landfill tax, which encourages councils to recycle more waste and send less to landfill.

The facilities were developed by Global Renewables Lancashire Limited (GRLL), who currently run the sites under a 25-year contract funded through the Private Finance Initiative.

Under the new arrangements, Lancashire County Council and Blackpool Council will take over ownership and responsibility for running the two sites.

By restructuring the financing for the sites, the councils will jointly save more than £12 million pounds per year over what would have been the remaining 22 years of the contract.

County Councillor David Borrow, deputy leader of Lancashire County Council, said: “This agreement means both sites will continue to deliver a hugely important service for people across Lancashire, while the new funding arrangements contribute significantly to the £300m of savings the county council needs to make by 2017/18.

“It is a very good deal for the people of Lancashire.”

Councillor Amy Cross, Blackpool Council’s cabinet member for streetscene and the environment, said: “In Blackpool, like in Lancashire, we are a proactive authority when it comes to recycling and disposing of our waste correctly.

“We’re pleased that this deal will allow us to maintain our current arrangements and continue to work towards improving recycling rates in the town.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Simon Malia .