(a)

the three participating authorities originally discussed working together in 2007, to explore a joint solution to the common problem of waste management, with the first SWDWP Joint Committee held in August 2008;

(b)

the partnership expressed an interest in obtaining PFI Credits to DEFRA and in October 2008 were awarded £95m of PFI Credits, now known as a Waste Infrastructure Grant;

(c)

the procurement programme was launched in October 2008 and MVV Umwelt were approved as the preferred bidder in December 2010;

(d)

in 2012 the partnership were considered to be in a good position having signed contracts with all parties, had the Waste Infrastructure Grant confirmed and MVV received conditional planning approval and a draft environmental permit for the site at North Yard, Dockyard;

(e)

in working together the three authorities had achieved all its key project objectives most notably to secure an economically advantageous solution, that utilised reliable and proven technology and would divert 97 per cent of waste from landfill achieving a reduction of 74,000 tonnes of CO2, the equivalent to 5 per cent of Plymouth’s annual carbon footprint;

(f)

the partnership was currently working with MVV on many activities including –

finalising planning documentation including production of the Section 106 legal agreement;

producing health, safety and environment plans as part of construction phase method statements;

producing detailed stage programmes and detailed design information including drawings, specifications and calculations;

(g)

moving forward it was hoped that –

the decision of the Planning Committee would be ratified and legal agreements signed in early February 2012;

enabling works were to commence on site in February 2012 to ensure that the main construction works commenced in April/May 2012 with the aim of construction being completed in April 2014;

hot commissioning was to begin in September 2014 and not September 2012, as reported in the Outline Project Programme, when the three authorities’ waste would begin to be diverted from landfill with the facility being fully operational from November 2014;

(h)

as a partnership the future steps involved –

reviewing and re-shaping the Joint Committee as necessary to reflect this latest phase including monitoring and progress of on site construction;

implementing necessary arrangements and reviewing contracts to move from current landfill contract with Viridor to the new Energy from Waste (EfW) contract;

continued engagement with councillors at briefing sessions and public through the Incinerator Liaison Committee.

(i)

there is a Judicial Review period that runs for a further three months following the issue of the formal planning decision;

(j)

MVV had received a draft Environmental Permit in December 2011 and consultations for the permit were ongoing until February 2012;

(k)

given the fact that MVV had yet to finalise Section 106 agreements and that the Judicial Review period was still ongoing, there was the potential that some of the Project Programme dates could yet move.