Plans unveiled to build Leeds waste incinerator

[Cardiarms]

I wonder if this was known at the time of bidding for the contract.

[raveydavey]

Cardiarms wrote: I wonder if this was known at the time of bidding for the contract. To be fair any of these type of long term contracts / PFI schemes are as bad as each other, you only have to Google the name of many of the firms involved in them for a whole raft of less than savoury stories.

[somme1916]

raveydavey wrote: Cardiarms wrote: I wonder if this was known at the time of bidding for the contract. To be fair any of these type of long term contracts / PFI schemes are as bad as each other, you only have to Google the name of many of the firms involved in them for a whole raft of less than savoury stories. Very true raveydavey......How do the people of Leeds know they are getting value for money ? Who are the external,independent auditors to assess such schemes and how do they work ? Personally,I think there are uncomfortably close partnership schemes in many local authority awards that border on a comparison with nepotism i.e. where the proportion and value of work awarded to a small number of individual firms is disproportionately high in comparison with the number of competitors in the same field of work.

[dogduke]

I was surprised nobody picked up on this one Published on Tuesday 3 July 2012 06:50Leeds City Council could have to fork out nearly £1m in compensation if its controversial incinerator scheme fails to win planning consent, it has emerged.Money would be paid to Veolia ES Aurora Ltd, the company the council has chosen to build and operate the electricity-generating incinerator that will burn household waste under a 25-year Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contract.The contract is due to be signed soon, while the planning application for the project will not be determined until next year.A council report says that if the scheme is terminated as a result of failure to obtain planning permission “in circumstances where Veolia have used all reasonable endeavours,” the firms gets compensation.A confidential section of the report, seen by the Yorkshire Evening Post, says the sum would be about £930,000, “which represents the anticipated development costs to Veolia and their contractors, plus any breakage costs associated with forward contractsA spokesman for the firm said the costs were “nowhere near” the figure of £1m.The project budget includes a fund to help meet the costs of any appeal should planning permission be refused.The report says: “Once this sum has been exhausted, the costs of any appeal are split 90-10 between the council and Veolia respectively.”Planning delays could also prove costly for the council.A decision is expected next spring but a six month delay could land the council with an extra £350,000 a year for the operational life of the contract.See YEP website for full report.Private Eye in I think their 'Rotton Boroughs'sectonreported such an occurance elsewhere MONTHS ago