North London Waste Authority: 'We're down, but not defeated'

4 February                                                                                         

The NLWA has announced the next stage of its revised procurement process.

Its plans were hit following the comprehensive spending review (October 2010), when £258.4m in PFI credit support was unexpectedly cut.  The announcement came just months after the new Government had confirmed the funding (July 2010) and that its proposals matched their waste management priorities.

Since last October, the NLWA has been considering its position and next steps.  This included the option of pursuing a judicial review.

 Cllr Clyde Loakes, Chair of the NLWA, said:

"We remain disappointed at DEFRA's decision to cut our £258.4m in PFI credit support.  The decision was unexpected, in large part because our plans had so recently been given the green light.  It also goes against the Government's waste management priorities.

"However, we need to focus on what is the best course of action for the NLWA, which will enable us to achieve our ambition of providing a modern sustainable waste management solution, which offers best value for money to local Council tax payers.

"We felt on balance that pursuing a judicial review, while justified on many levels would not have been in the best interests of local residents.

"We have instead set out a revised timetable which will provide additional time for bidders to update their solutions and to resubmit. We have received an excellent market response from many of the leading waste and energy companies and we look forward to continuing to work with them as our plans progress."

Under the revised timetable, invitations to submit outline solutions (ISOS) has been extended to 8 February 2011.  The evaluation of these plans will be completed in April 2011, and a report will be submitted to the April meeting of the NLWA.