Meeting documents

1 THE ISSUE

1.1 The Council's Waste Strategy (agreed in July 2005) includes the potential requirement to relocate all waste services activities from the Midland Road site in Bath in order to facilitate the redevelopment of this area through the Bath Western Riverside project. The Council also faces increasingly challenging recycling targets in order to avoid fines (in addition to increased landfill tax and other charges) and therefore seeks to examine options for increasing its recycling capacity and improve existing services.

1.2 This report seeks agreement from the Executive on the requirement to relocate waste management activities from Midland Road and the projected costs of doing so.

2 RECOMMENDATIONS

2.1 All waste services activities be relocated from Midland Road, Bath.

2.2 Priority is given to the development of one or two new public Recycling Centres to serve the residents of Bath and the surrounding area as close to the centre of population as possible.

2.3 The potential for relocation of the Recycling Centre and cleansing depot facility to all possible sites, including those identified in the Local Plan as having potential for redevelopment, is pursued.

2.4 The potential for the development of an additional Recycling Centre facility to serve the population to the east of Bath be pursued.

2.5 The potential for expanding existing operations at the ECT recycling facility at Ashmead Road Industrial Estate, Keynsham is examined in detail to allow early access for developers to the land adjacent to the Midland Road facility, and that the increased revenue implications of running all recycling operations from this base be identified within the Leisure and Amenity Services Service and Financial Plan.

2.6 A report be considered by the Council Executive early in 2006 on the potential for the development of a new waste transfer station, materials recycling facility and refuse collection depot on land identified within the Local Plan at Broadmead Lane Keynsham, as replacement facilities for Midland Road and options for the expansion or relocation of waste transfer facilities at Old Welton, Midsomer Norton.

2.7 Options for the expansion of the existing public Recycling Centre at Old Welton are progressed.

2.8 The waste procurement strategy (which includes the market testing of all front line services and consideration of revised specifications to support the delivery of the targets agreed in the Council's Waste Strategy) is approved.

2.9 The implications of transferring activities from the Midland Road site and the development of further recycling facilities be reviewed as part of the Council's Capital Programme Review, currently being prepared to support the Financial Plan process.

3 FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

3.1 The potential capital cost of development of new infrastructure required as a result of moving from Midland Road is estimated at £10.4M -13.4M, as follows:
· New public Recycling Centre, cleansing depot and trade waste reception facilities - £2M (excluding land acquisition & highways works). The total cost is likely to be between £4 and £5 million.
· New transfer station and Materials Recycling Facility. Costs will depend on the infrastructure adopted but are likely to be in the region of £6 to £8 million before allowing for the cost of any additional waste treatment facilities which could be located adjacent to these facilities.

A7 Project Management costs to develop proposals are estimated to be £150k (2006/07) and £250K (2007/08).

New Transfer Station and Materials Recycling Facility (MRF)

Expansion of facilities at Old Welton

Options for an additional Recycling Centre to the east of Bath

Project fees for the above

4 THE REPORT

4.1 The Council agreed its Waste Strategy and five year action plan in July 2005. A Project Board has been formed to progress the action plan which includes the development of new infrastructure, the development of new service specifications and the market test of front line waste service operations, including refuse collection, recycling collections, composting collections, recycling centres and waste transfer operations. A summary of the market test project is set out at Appendix 2.

4.2 A key factor in delivering the Council's Waste Strategy targets is the requirement to relocate all waste service activities from the Midland Road site in Bath. This site is required for the delivery of the Bath Western Riverside (BWR) project. The project programme for BWR indicates that this site will be required in full in 2008 but that early access to neighbouring land will be required from 2007.

4.3 Further details of the BWR drivers for relocation are given in Appendix 1.

4.4 Significant costs will be incurred in developing new facilities. A very limited number of sites which have potential for development as waste facilities have been identified to date, and planning issues in relation to the development of each of these sites are of key concern.

5 RISK MANAGEMENT

6 RATIONALE

6.1 The activities that are currently operated at Midland Road are understood to be required to relocate in order for the Council to deliver development in the Bath Western Riverside area.

6.2 The Council is required to meet targets laid down by the Government to reduce the amount of bio-degradable waste that is disposed of to landfill. The achievement of these targets will depend on developing our services, engaging the public and investing in new collection, treatment and disposal infrastructure. Non-achievement of these targets will result in significant fines and a significant rise in the cost of landfilling waste.

6.3 The Council's Waste Strategy sets out the direction of travel which the Council will take in order to achieve these targets, including the development of new service specifications, a market test of front line waste services and the requirement for access to new waste treatment infrastructure

7 OTHER OPTIONS CONSIDERED

7.1 The redesign of existing facilities at Midland Road to expand and improve the public Recycling Centre in order to achieve waste strategy targets. This has been proved possible but is not being pursued further at this time as the Bath Western Riverside project has indicated that the relocation of the waste activities currently operated at Midland Road is critical to the delivery of its objectives.

7.2 The potential for the development of larger scale waste treatment facilities to serve the sub-region. This is being pursued through a project board consisting of Waste and Planning Executive Members from each of the 4 Unitary Authorities but will not impact on the requirement to develop new local facilities to replace Midland Road, specifically local Recycling Centre facilities.

8 CONSULTATION

8.1 The Executive Councillor, other B&NES Services, Section 151 Finance Officer, Chief Executive and Monitoring Officer have all been consulted and had the opportunity to comment on this report.

8.2 Extensive consultation has been carried out during the development of the Waste Strategy. This has included workshops, stakeholder meetings, publication of draft documents for comment and through scrutiny by the relevant O&S panel.

8.3 Staff and the Trade Unions have been consulted on the Waste Strategy and the market test exercise. The Trade Unions are represented in an observer capacity on the Project Board which is managing the delivery of the Waste Strategy. Staff who may be affected by the project have received briefings on the plans and on progress to date. Further informal consultation has been carried out with the Trade Unions through the Council's joint consultative arrangements.

8.4 Sites with potential for development for waste activities are identified in the draft Local Plan which has been subject to public enquiry.