A tribunal judge yesterday (January 7) ruled that the technical assessment by which Viridor’s Trident Park energy from waste (EfW) plant in Cardiff was classified as an R1 recovery operation is not commercially sensitive and should therefore be publically disclosed.
Both Viridor and Cardiff council had previously argued that disclosing such information would ‘discourage innovation’, but Judge Chris Hughes ruled that the projected performance of the EfW facility is “key to its acceptability and viability” and therefore the matter was of “considerable legitimate public concern”.
The group campaigning against the development which brought the tribunal case, Friends of the Earth, hailed the “hugely significant decision by the Judge” yesterday. It added: “incineration is the wrong answer to our waste problem”.
R1 ‘recovery’ status for energy efficiency – rather than ‘disposal’ status – was confirmed for the Trident Park EfW plant in Cardiff by Natural Resources Wales (NRW) in June 2014. This means the group of councils involved in the project is eligible to receive a grant of more than £4.2 million each year from the Welsh Government, equating to more than £100 million over the plant’s 25-year operational lifetime.
The 350,000 tonnes per year capacity Trident Park facility is currently in the advanced stages of its hot commissioning process and the developers are expected to hand over control of the plant to Viridor later this month.
Built as part of a 25-year deal between Viridor and Prosiect Gwyrdd, the plant will process 172,000 tonnes per year of household waste from Newport, Caerphilly, Cardiff, Monmouthshire and Vale of Glamorgan councils.
Evaluation
Evaluation of whether the Trident Park plant qualified as an R1 recovery operation plant was undertaken by technical advisors to the Viridor and Cardiff council partnership.
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Friends of the Earth (FoE) had requested details of the technical assessment underpinning the decision to grant Trident Park R1 status, but the request was refused on the basis that the details could be commercially sensitive.
The campaign group then appealed to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), which also concluded that there was a “strong possibility of Viridor’s competitors using the withheld information in bidding for future similar projects” and that “disclosure would discourage innovation”.
However, FoE challenged this, and after a tribunal hearing in October 2014, the Judge – Chris Hughes – yesterday (January 7) ruled that the calculation by which Trident Park was classified as R1 and therefore eligible for public funds was a “matter of considerable legitimate public concern”.
Judge Hughes’ ruling states: “The Tribunal is satisfied, having scrutinised the information that on the balance of probabilities there will be no adverse impact on any legitimate economic interest. The information will neither give advantage to a competitor in future tendering exercises, nor assist it in developing a rival product.”
The ruling adds: “Even if there were an adverse impact any conceivable impact would be outweighed by the strong public interest in transparency about this important decision.”
Viridor
A spokesman for Viridor said the company had no comment on yesterday’s ruling, other than to confirm that the Trident Park EfW plant has Stage 1 R1 status.
Viridor said it expects to take over control of the facility – currently in the advanced stages of its hot commissioning process – from its construction and technology developers this month.
A spokesman for Cardiff council said: “All interested parties are now considering the decision made by the tribunal yesterday and following consideration will respond in due course.”
Friends of the Earth
The ruling was welcomed by Friends of the Earth Cymru, with its director Gareth Clubb, commenting: “This is a hugely significant decision by the Judge. He has rightly determined that spending more than a hundred million pounds of public money should be subject to full public scrutiny.
“Incineration is the wrong answer to our waste problem. People right across Wales are making terrific efforts to recycle, and we now recycle more than half of our waste. Instead of pouring cash into burning our rubbish, the Welsh Government should be focusing on making Wales’ recycling systems the best in the world”.
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