Agenda and minutes

No apologies were received.

To provide an opportunity for Members and Officers to declare any personal and/or prejudicial interests in any item on the agenda

No declarations of interest were made.

In accordance with Procedure Rules Nos.11 and 35 a period of 10 minutes is allocated for members of the public to address the meeting on any matter relevant to the work of the meeting. Individual members of the public may speak for up to 5 minutes but the Chairman or person presiding will decide how the period of time allocated for public speaking will be apportioned where there are a number of speakers. Members of the public are not required to give notice to use this facility. However, as a matter of courtesy, a period of 24 hours’ notice is encouraged.

Members of the public wishing to ask a question at the meeting should provide at least three clear working days’ notice in writing and should include the question with that notice. This will enable an informed answer to be given.

There were no members of the public present.

The report relating to the remaining item on the agenda has been withheld from public circulation and deposit pursuant to Section 100(B)(2) of the Local Government Act 1972 on the grounds that the matter may be determined with the press and public excluded.

The Committee may decide that the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following item pursuant to Section 100(A)4 of the Local Government Act 1972 on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 3 and 5 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 and the public interest would not be served in publishing the information.

PART 2 – MATTERS TO BE CONSIDERED WITHOUT THE PUBLIC AND PRESS PRESENT

RESOLVED:

That the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following item pursuant to Section 100(A)4 of the Local Government Act 1972 on the grounds that they involved the disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 3 and 5 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 and public interest would not be served in publishing the information.

To consider a report on Waste PFI.

In accordance with Access to Information Procedure Rule 14, it was noted that this matter had not been considered in the Forward Plan of Key Decisions to be taken between 1 January and 31 March 2011 as prompt action was required in order to meet the deadline for proceeding and it would be impractical to defer the decision until it could be included in the next Forward Plan. 

In addition it had been agreed that the decision would be considered as urgent for the purposes of Scrutiny Procedure Rule 13 on the basis that any delay caused by the call-in process would result in the Council being out of time and unable to issue proceedings.

The Cabinet Member for Procurement, Assets and Shared Services considered a report on the Waste PFI project.

In October 2010, as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review, Defra had announced the withdrawal of PFI credits from 7 projects for the construction and operation of waste processing facilities.  The Cheshire Waste Treatment Project, jointly procured by Cheshire West & Chester and Cheshire East Councils, was one of the projects from which support was withdrawn.  The Councils had been at an advanced stage in the process, having selected a provisional preferred bidder and submitted a final business case to Defra.

The Cabinet Member for Procurement, Assets and Shared Services was asked to determine if legal proceedings should be issued to challenge Defra’s decision to withdrawn the PFI credits.

RESOLVED:

That Judicial Review proceedings be issued to challenge Defra’s decision to withdraw PFI credits in relation to the Cheshire Waste Treatment Facility, subject to Cheshire West & Chester Council making a similar decision.