Agenda and minutes

Cabinet - Thursday 23 August 2012 5.00 pm

Venue: COUNCIL HOUSE, PLYMOUTH

Contact: Nicola Kirby, Senior Democratic Support Officer (Cabinet)  Email: nicola.kirby@plymouth.gov.uk

Media

Items
No. Item

44.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST pdf icon PDF 35 KB

Cabinet Members will be asked to make any declarations of interest in respect of items on this agenda. A flowchart providing guidance on member interests is attached to assist councillors.

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Minutes:

Name

Minute

Reason

Interest

Councillor Lowry

Minute 49

Employed by Babcock International Group

Personal

 

45.

MINUTES pdf icon PDF 72 KB

To sign and confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 14 August 2012.

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Minutes:

Agreed that the minutes of the meeting held on 14 August 2012 are confirmed as a correct record.

46.

QUESTIONS FROM THE PUBLIC

To receive questions from the public in accordance with the Constitution.

 

Questions, of no longer than 50 words, can be submitted to the Democratic Support Unit, Corporate Services Department, Plymouth City Council, Civic Centre, Plymouth, PL1 2AA, or email to democraticsupport@plymouth.gov.uk. Any questions must be received at least five clear working days before the date of the meeting.

 

 

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Minutes:

No questions were submitted from members of the public.

47.

CHAIR'S URGENT BUSINESS

To receive reports on business which, in the opinion of the Chair, should be brought forward for urgent consideration.

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Minutes:

There were no items of Chair’s urgent business.

48.

ENERGY FROM WASTE PLANT - INDEPENDENT LEGAL ADVICE pdf icon PDF 28 KB

At the request of the City Council on 30 July 2012 (Motion on Notice No 1 – Combined Heat and Power Plants refers), the Interim Chief Executive will submit a written report attaching independent legal advice received from Foot Anstey LLP, Solicitors, on the implications of the Council terminating the current contractual arrangements for an energy from waste plant at North Yard and revoking the current planning consent.

 

Foot Anstey LLP, Solicitors, have been invited to attend the meeting to present their findings.

 

The report will also be considered by the Planning Committee on 23 August 2012.       

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Minutes:

The Leader welcomed Mr Gareth Pinwell and Mr Chris Hoare, from Foot Anstey Solicitors, engaged to provide independent legal advice to the Council.  The Leader advised that the Planning Committee had met earlier in the day to receive legal advice regarding revocation of the planning consent.

 

Mr Hoare provided the committee with advice on the contractual arrangements. He advised that –

 

(a)

whilst withdrawing from the Joint Working Agreement (JWA) and the Project Contract was theoretically possible, it would be prohibitively expensive and the levels of compensation (potentially to be claimed by MVV Umwelt or one of the other partner authorities or the loss of PFI credits) could exceed £400 million

 

(b)

one of the local authorities withdrawing from the contractual arrangements would risk one or more of the other parties seeking to challenge by way of judicial review

 

(c)

a decision to withdraw would need to be proportionate, robust and based on the “Wednesbury principles”

 

(d)

withdrawal from the JWA and/or the Project Contract would not necessarily stop the construction of the facility at North Yard

 

(e)

the Council would lose its membership of the South West Devon Waste Partnership and, therefore, lose any input regarding operational or other matters

 

(f)

the Council would need to seek other arrangements for the disposal of the city’s waste

 

The Leader welcomed Councillor Stevens, the Chair of the Planning Committee, to the meeting.

 

The Leader asked the Assistant Director for Democracy and Governance about the decision made by the Planning Committee.  The Assistant Director advised Members that the Planning Committee had agreed to note the advice and had asked to receive regular reports on the compliance of planning conditions with recommendations for appropriate action where there was evidence of non-compliance.

 

In response to questions from Members it was reported that:

 

(g)

theWednesbury principles were a matter of public law and provided that local authorities decisions must be rational and take financial consequences into account.  In this case, the potential for incurring compensation of over £400 million with no reason for withdrawal would make a decision to withdraw irrational or unreasonable.

 

(h)

regarding health impact and the future introduction of more rigorous standards:

·         prior to the contract being finalised, advice had been sought from the Primary Care Trust and the Health Protection Agency and the committee report had advised the adoption of a cautionary approach.  In the S106 agreement, the Council’s officers asked MVV to provide air monitoring stations so that air quality could be monitored independently and MVV had to agree an air management plan with the authority before operations could commence.

·         if more rigorous environmental regulations were imposed in the future, the contract included provision for the nature of the change to be appraised and the SW Devon Waste Partnership would work through the cost and implementation with MVV.

 

(i)

it wasn’t possible to detail the potential losses of over £400 but they would include £177 million of PFI grant, the MOD’s loss of discounted energy supplies;  ...  view the full minutes text for item 48.

49.

EXEMPT BUSINESS

To consider passing a resolution under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 to exclude the press and public from the meeting for the following item(s) of business on the grounds that it (they) involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, as amended by the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

There were no items of except business.