Councils urged to leave incinerator contract

Tees Valley Energy Recovery Facility will take waste from seven councils

A council leader is urging other local authorities to exit a contract for a controversial waste incinerator because he says there is "no appetite" for the scheme.

The Tees Valley Energy Recovery Facility (TVERF) is set to burn 450,000 tonnes of household waste from seven of north-east England's councils each year to create electricity for the national grid.

It is due to be built on land at Teesworks, near Grangetown, Redcar, but councillors in Newcastle voted last week in favour of withdrawing from the facility.

Durham County Council leader Andrew Husband has now said his Reform UK administration would be looking to "exit this horrible deal".

Alongside Durham and Newcastle, five councils from the Tees Valley area are involved in the contract.

Despite the vote at Newcastle City Council's full meeting, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said it was unlikely the Labour cabinet would agree to pull out of a contract that could run for up to 40 years and has been valued at more than £2bn.

'Lack of confidence'

Husband is urging counterparts on Tyneside to honour the outcome of the councillors' vote.

He said he feared local authorities would miss out on the benefits of new technology if they were locked into a decades-long contract requiring them to send waste to the Grangetown incinerator.

"We have to be measured with regards to the idea of us withdrawing at this stage. But this [the Newcastle vote] is telling us that other councils do not want to be involved with it.

"It creates an uncomfortable situation where we have a lack of confidence from the councils involved in the project.

"We are getting scrutiny on how we spend taxpayer money and this is a significant amount of money over the years."

The plans for the incinerator have drawn opposition on environmental as well as financial grounds, but the Environment Agency has issued a permit which it said ensured "robust levels" of environmental protections would be met.

Newcastle City Council's leadership claimed last week that pulling out of the TVERF contract now would leave it exposed to costs of up to £30m.

Husband said Durham County Council would not seek any compensation from any other local authorities who withdrew.

Newcastle City Council have been contacted for comment.