Decision details

RESOLVED (unanimously) that the Cabinet agreed to:

1.  Fully approve the total capital of £29.9m needed to deliver the construction phase, in order to complete and relocate according to programme in early 2023. This requires an uplift of £13.6m on the current provisional programme item of £16.3m, with the additional borrowing costs implied of £522k to be funded from the revenue budget contingency.

2.  Note the progress towards securing a new permanent waste and recycling site for Bath at Odd Down as set out in the supplementary paper and affirms its intention to provide a new interim facility at Bath Western Riverside in advance of the final closure of the Midland Road site.

The Waste Infrastructure programme includes the development of previously acquired land at Pixash Lane, Keynsham, to relocate and consolidate Council waste & recycling operations and modernise the existing public Recycling Centre there.  Significant progress has been made in recent years, and final approval of capital is now required in order to progress into the final stages of construction and enable relocation in early 2023.

Proposals for re-providing household waste and recycling centres in Bath continue to be developed and appraised so that Bath residents will have uninterrupted access to recycling centres local to them, aligned with the Council’s climate and nature priorities.  The Council is committed to keeping the public recycling centre at Midland Road open until an alternative is in place for residents of Bath.  A supplementary paper outlining more detail on providing at least one recycling centre in the city of Bath is intended to be tabled at the meeting.

Do nothing:  This entails a high risk of service failure. The existing sites are no longer fit for purpose, they are on the limit of the tonnage they can manage, have been underinvested for many years and have no expansion potential.

Lease sites and re-develop so fit for purpose: This entails high financial and operational risk. There are no sites of sufficient size and capacity within the district, nor close by in neighbouring districts that will suit our objectives.  We would need to invest in constructing on leased land and indicative financial and property benchmarking costs show more capital growth would be required.