Issue - meetings

The Board considered a report of the Strategic Director, Communities, on the progress made with the procurement of the Merseyside and Halton Resource Recovery Contract.

          The report set out the financial aspects of the contract. In addition, the report sought to re-affirm the delegation of defined aspects of the Council’s Waste Disposal Authority Function to the Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority (MWDA) and the Council’s commitment to enter into a legally binding Inter Authority Agreement (IAA) with the MWDA.

Reason(s) for Decision

In order for the Council to fulfil its statutory obligations as a Waste Disposal Authority, it must have in place arrangements for the treatment or disposal of residual household waste. It was important to ensure that any arrangements that were in place continued to represent the most cost effective and value for money solution available to the Council.

Entering into an Inter Authority Agreement with the Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority was required in order to secure Halton’s inclusion in the Waste Treatment Services and Facilities procured by the MWDA.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected

Halton’s involvement in a joint procurement exercise with the MWDA for the provision of Waste Treatment services through a Competitive Dialogue process, sought to ensure that the widest range of market solutions available had been considered and evaluated. The outcome of the procurement exercise was to determine the most cost effective waste management solution available.

The options that had been considered, and led to a decision to work in partnership with the MWDA, were detailed in previous reports presented to Executive Board.

Implementation Date

The Inter Authority Agreement would come into effect on the date that Financial Close of the Resource Recovery Contract was achieved.

RESOLVED: That

1)    the Council, acting under Section 9EA of the Local Government Act 2000, the Local Authorities (Arrangements for the Discharge of Functions) (England) Regulations 2012 and all other enabling powers, delegates to Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority (MWDA) that part of its waste disposal function as relates to the procurement and administration of services for the treatment of waste as set out in the proposed Resource Recovery Contract (RRC) as described in the report (the Delegation);

2)    the Delegation is contingent upon an Inter Authority Agreement (the IAA) being entered into between the Council and MWDA, and shall commence on a date to be specified in the IAA;

3)    the IAA shall document the relationship between the Council and the MWDA consequent upon Delegation;

4)    the expenditure associated with the Delegation be approved; and

5)    the Strategic Director, Communities, be authorised, in consultation with the Executive Board Members for Resources and for Environmental Services, the Operational Directors for Finance and for Legal and Democratic Services, to take all such actions and to make any decisions necessary to agree the final terms of the IAA, and to arrange for the IAA to be executed on behalf of the Council.