(a)

MVV Energie was the parent company of MVV Umwelt, a waste management, Combined Heat and Power (CHP) and biomass company. MVV Umwelt were the German parent company of MVV Environment, a UK based Waste Management company who had created a subsidiary company, MVV Environment Devonport Ltd;

(b)

MVV Environment Devonport Ltd were the company selected as the preferred bidder by the SWDWP and officially signed the contract with the partnership on 25 March 2011;

(c)

MVV Umwelt had worked in Energy from Waste (EfW) for over 45 years having created their first EfW and CHP plant in Mannheim, Germany in 1965;

(d)

MVV Environment Devonport Ltd was committed to create an efficient, sustainable and innovative waste solution in Devon and this was fully supported by MVV Energie;

(e)

MVV Environment Devonport Ltd offered a sustainable and deliverable solution which aimed to provide a long term waste management solution over 25 – 40 years with a highly efficient CHP facility;

(f)

the solution would be situated in the North Yard, Devonport and would provide CHP as soon as it was operational;

(g)

an agreement was in place to provide heat and energy to the Ministry of Defence (MOD) for 25 years;

(h)

the site location was close to a major road network, which would ensure that once the facility was operational the traffic impact in the area would be minimised;

(i)

MVV considered the proposed site was in compliance with local planning policies and MVV aimed to improve the local community by developing Blackie’s Wood into a nature reserve;

(j)

the plant had the capacity to manage 245,000 tonnes of waste per annum and deliver a highly efficient production of energy and heat;

(k)

KIER Group, building and civil engineering contractor would construct the building, which would use modern aesthetic architecture;

(l)

when in operation the plant would be environmentally compliant and would be significantly below the mandatory safe emission levels, additionally the plant’s emissions would be published daily on MVV’s website;

(m)

the solution offered by MVV Environment Devonport Ltd was a very cost effective deal for the SWDWP and was, in fact, £388.8m below the partnership’s reference case estimate;

(n)

the reason for the cost effectiveness of the solution was due to MVV Environment Devonport Ltd using other sources of income including, amongst other things, heat and power revenues from the MOD, power revenues from the National Grid and income from processing commercial and industrial waste;

(o)

the next stage in the process was for MVV Environment Devonport Ltd to submit a planning application in spring 2011; as part of this process MVV had held pre-application consultations with local residents, stakeholders, Planning Officers and briefed the Environment Agency;

(p)

the solution would not only manage the Partnership’s waste but MVV would seek to build trusting relationships with local communities, deliver jobs, economic benefits and offer training and educational opportunities;

(q)

MVV Environment Devonport Ltd had already started to develop relationships with local communities by establishing a Local Liaison Committee which met on 31 March 2011; these relationships would continue, assuming planning permission was granted, during the construction and operation of the facility.

(r)

when the facility was shut down for maintenance, the waste would be baled and stored; typically the facility could store waste like this for approximately one month;

(s)

the planning application was still being finalised as changes to the architecture design and other studies were being finalised and was hoped to be submitted soon but would not be available publicly until registered – likely sometime in May;

(t)

rail and marine facilities to transport waste were not part of the current solution but the possibility to use these transport methods would be looked at in the future. MVV had experience of these transport methods in Germany;

(u)

the Local Liaison Committee had met informally but did not yet include any councillors although the public members did request whether a councillor, such as Plymouth City Council’s Cabinet Member for Community Services (Street Scene, Waste and Sustainability), could sit on the committee at future meetings.