Eco Park/Waste contract/Pfi/waste infrastructure grant updates
Dear Surrey County Council,
Please supply the following information by freedom of information request.
1.Please up date me on the current status of the Eco Park project, which is running massively late and over budget to the project team building it. Please give current timescales of deadlines and expected events.
2.Please update me with the current status of the Defra/Surrey CC/Suez waste infrastructure grant /Pfi contract, including received payments over the past 12 months and any future payments linked to the Eco Park project. Please supply details of any meetings or communications in an electronic form, between SCC, DEFRA and Suez including notes or minutes regarding this, over the last 12 months, and including any dates of future meetings or deadlines regarding this.
3.Please update me with any information on whether Surrey County council has considered doing as other more savvy councils have done, and contemplated ending their poor, bad value for money waste Pfi / WIG contracts. It is well known the Eco park is not now value for money, does not reduce HGV movements, and does nothing to raise Surrey's waste up the waste hierarchy.
For example, Manchester ended their waste Pfi contract 17 years early, waste deals in Lancashire and Norfolk have been halted, and Sheffield council have voted to scrap the contract with their waste contractor. Some of these councils have cleverly used a government public works loan to do this.
Please inform me if this has been considered by SCC, and I request any notes, minutes, emails or communications of any meetings regarding this, in electronic form.
4.please inform me whether the (poor) Eco Park contract with Suez has passed to the new Surrey waste partnership, and whether they will be re-evaluating it.
5.please update me of any new value for money assessments carried out in the Eco park project over the last 24 months, or if any are due.
Thank you for your help.
Yours faithfully,
Adrian Corti
Dear Mr Corti
YOUR REQUEST REF NO. 16739 UNDER THE ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATIONS 2004
Thank you for your request for information received on the 2 June 2017. Your request reference is as above.
We will respond to your request as soon as possible and in any event within 20 working days from the date of receipt of your request. If you wish to contact me to discuss the progress of your request, please use the contact details given below and quote the reference number given above.
Regards
Helen Gilbert
Commons Registration Officer
Legal, Democratic & Cultural Services
(Mon - Thurs 9am to 3pm)
Corporate Information Governance Team (Room 138) | Democratic Services | Surrey County Council | County Hall | Penrhyn Road | Kingston upon Thames | Surrey | KT1 2DN
Tel: 020 8541 8935 | Email: [email address] | GCSx email for [OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE]: [email address]
Dear Mr Corti
I am writing to advise you that, unfortunately, we are unable to send a
full reply by today’s deadline of 30 June.
The officer that is compiling the reply has raised queries over whether or
not some of the information can be disclosed. Unfortunately, our freedom
of information team is not in the office today to clarify. We want to
ensure full compliance with the regulations and so we have elected to wait
until the FOI team is back in the office and able to advise. We aim to
have a full response sent to you by the end of next week (although it is
very likely that it will be sent early next week).
We thank you for your patience and apologise for any inconvenience caused.
With kind regards
Matt Beedell | Project & PA Support Team Leader | Leadership Office -
Supporting E&I Leadership to deliver Directorate priorities
Environment & Infrastructure
County Hall
Penrhyn Road
Kingston upon Thames, KT1 2DW
Tel: 020 8541 7037
Email: [1][email address]
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
Dear Mr Corti
Herewith an update on your request for information.
I am sorry to say that the officer dealing with the request has asked for
more time and has advised that he will be able to gather the information
by 14 July.
We apologies for the delay and any inconvenience caused. As soon as we
have the information prepared we shall share with you.
Kind regards
Matt
Matt Beedell | Project & PA Support Team Leader | Leadership Office -
Supporting E&I Leadership to deliver Directorate priorities
Environment & Infrastructure
County Hall
Penrhyn Road
Kingston upon Thames, KT1 2DW
Tel: 020 8541 7037
Email: [1][email address]
From: Matt Beedell EI
Sent: 30 June 2017 16:17
To: '[FOI #410078 email]'
<[2][FOI #410078 email]>
Subject: Your request 16739 - UNDER THE ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION
REGULATIONS 2004
Dear Mr Corti
I am writing to advise you that, unfortunately, we are unable to send a
full reply by today’s deadline of 30 June.
The officer that is compiling the reply has raised queries over whether or
not some of the information can be disclosed. Unfortunately, our freedom
of information team is not in the office today to clarify. We want to
ensure full compliance with the regulations and so we have elected to wait
until the FOI team is back in the office and able to advise. We aim to
have a full response sent to you by the end of next week (although it is
very likely that it will be sent early next week).
We thank you for your patience and apologise for any inconvenience caused.
With kind regards
Matt Beedell | Project & PA Support Team Leader | Leadership Office -
Supporting E&I Leadership to deliver Directorate priorities
Environment & Infrastructure
County Hall
Penrhyn Road
Kingston upon Thames, KT1 2DW
Tel: 020 8541 7037
Email: [3][email address]
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. mailto:[FOI #410078 email]
3. mailto:[email address]
Good afternoon Mr Corti,
Please accept my apologies but the officer dealing with the enquiry has
explained that Defra has received a similar FOI request and that Surrey
County Council is now in a dialogue with them regarding aspects of the
request that may be commercially sensitive. This is unfortunately taking a
longer than expected. Defra has extended the deadline for their request
until the end of July and so I have been advised that, all going well, a
reply will be sent to you by then.
Once again, please our apologies for the delays.
Kind regards
Matt
Matt Beedell | Project & PA Support Team Leader | Leadership Office -
Supporting E&I Leadership to deliver Directorate priorities
Environment & Infrastructure
County Hall
Penrhyn Road
Kingston upon Thames, KT1 2DW
Tel: 020 8541 7037
Email: [1][email address]
From: Matt Beedell EI
Sent: 11 July 2017 11:34
To: '[FOI #410078 email]'
<[FOI #410078 email]>
Subject: FW: Your request 16739 - UNDER THE ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION
REGULATIONS 2004
Dear Mr Corti
Herewith an update on your request for information.
I am sorry to say that the officer dealing with the request has asked for
more time and has advised that he will be able to gather the information
by 14 July.
We apologies for the delay and any inconvenience caused. As soon as we
have the information prepared we shall share with you.
Kind regards
Matt
Matt Beedell | Project & PA Support Team Leader | Leadership Office -
Supporting E&I Leadership to deliver Directorate priorities
Environment & Infrastructure
County Hall
Penrhyn Road
Kingston upon Thames, KT1 2DW
Tel: 020 8541 7037
Email: [2][email address]
From: Matt Beedell EI
Sent: 30 June 2017 16:17
To: '[FOI #410078 email]'
<[3][FOI #410078 email]>
Subject: Your request 16739 - UNDER THE ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION
REGULATIONS 2004
Dear Mr Corti
I am writing to advise you that, unfortunately, we are unable to send a
full reply by today’s deadline of 30 June.
The officer that is compiling the reply has raised queries over whether or
not some of the information can be disclosed. Unfortunately, our freedom
of information team is not in the office today to clarify. We want to
ensure full compliance with the regulations and so we have elected to wait
until the FOI team is back in the office and able to advise. We aim to
have a full response sent to you by the end of next week (although it is
very likely that it will be sent early next week).
We thank you for your patience and apologise for any inconvenience caused.
With kind regards
Matt Beedell | Project & PA Support Team Leader | Leadership Office -
Supporting E&I Leadership to deliver Directorate priorities
Environment & Infrastructure
County Hall
Penrhyn Road
Kingston upon Thames, KT1 2DW
Tel: 020 8541 7037
Email: [4][email address]
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. mailto:[email address]
3. mailto:[FOI #410078 email]
4. mailto:[email address]
Dear Mr Corti
YOUR REQUEST REF NO. 16739 UNDER THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000
We have considered your request which was for the information set out
below.
The Service have provided the following response.
1. Please update me on the current status of the Eco Park project, which
is running massively late and over budget to the project team building it.
Please give current timescales of deadlines and expected events.
We expect the Eco Park to be completed in Spring/Summer 2018. Our
contractor Suez is currently working with their contractor M+W Group to
provide final date for handover of the facilities.
2. Please update me with the current status of the Defra/Surrey CC/Suez
waste infrastructure grant /Pfi contract, including received payments over
the past 12 months and any future payments linked to the Eco Park project.
Please supply details of any meetings or communications in an electronic
form, between SCC, DEFRA and Suez including notes or minutes regarding
this, over the last 12 months, and including any dates of future meetings
or deadlines regarding this.
Surrey County council received 4 quarterly payments of Waste
Infrastructure Grant of £510k each , so £2,042,640 over a year. The
profile of the grant is such that there will be a step-up at the start of
hot commissioning of the gasification facility.
There is no correspondence, within the past 12 months, between SCC and
Suez regarding the Waste Infrastructure Grant
Regular liaison meetings between Defra officials and Surrey County Council
officials took place on 7 July 2016, 11 October 2016, 3 April 2017 and 22
May 2017. There are no minutes of these meetings.
A Development Project Monthly Update Report was provided to Defra
officials on 25 May 2017. Redactions have been made to this report under
sections 40 and 43 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 as set out
below:.
We confirm that Surrey County Council does hold the information but that
we have decided to withhold that information under Section 40 (2) and
Section 40(3) of the FOIA because the information comprises personal
information relating persons other than you. We consider that disclosure
of this information would breach the data protection principles of the
Data Protection Act 1998 and in particular Schedule 1 of that Act, which
relates to fair and lawful processing of personal data. We do not consider
that there is a legitimate interest in disclosing the personal data and
therefore this would not constitute fair processing. Release of the names
of council officers would add nothing to the public understanding of this
matter.
Information has also been redacted under Section 43(2) of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000, which relates to protection of Commercial Interests.
In applying this exemption we have had to consider the public interest in
withholding the information against the public interest in disclosure.
We recognise that there is a legitimate public interest in disclosing
information on the publically funded Eco Park project in order to
demonstrate transparency and value for money.
However there is also a strong case for withholding information, which if
disclosed would adversely affect the commercial interests of Surrey County
Council our Waste Management Contractor Suez and their EPC contractor M+W.
The report contains commercially sensitive information on pricing, which
is released would be extremely useful information for competitors. The
construction industry is highly competitive and releasing such
commercially sensitive information would adversely affect Suez or its
sub-contractor M+W if a competitor were to get hold of this detailed
pricing information.
In conclusion, we have considered whether it is in the public interest to
release the information in its un redacted form and whilst we accept that
there may be a wider public interest in release of some of the
information, particularly in relation to the programme, we consider that
in the current circumstances, with an ongoing construction project and
live commercial issues between Suez and M+W Group, this could prejudice
the ability of the parties to resolve these matters effectively. Therefore
we are of the view that the public interest in maintaining the exception
outweighs the public interest in disclosure.
3. Please update me with any information on whether Surrey County council
has considered doing as other more savvy councils have done, and
contemplated ending their poor, bad value for money waste Pfi / WIG
contracts. It is well known the Eco park is not now value for money, does
not reduce HGV movements, and does nothing to raise Surrey's waste up the
waste hierarchy.
For example, Manchester ended their waste Pfi contract 17 years early,
waste deals in Lancashire and Norfolk have been halted, and Sheffield
council have voted to scrap the contract with their waste contractor. Some
of these councils have cleverly used a government public works loan to do
this.
Please inform me if this has been considered by SCC, and I request any
notes, minutes, emails or communications of any meetings regarding this,
in electronic form.
No discussions have taken place within the council regarding termination
of the contract with SUEZ.
4. please inform me whether the (poor) Eco Park contract with Suez has
passed to the new Surrey waste partnership, and whether they will be
re-evaluating
it.
Suez is contracted to Surrey County Council and no transfer of this
contract to any other organisation has taken place.
5. please update me of any new value for money assessments carried out in
the Eco park project over the last 24 months, or if any are due
No further Value for money assessments in respect of the Eco Park project
have taken place over the past 24 months and none are due to take place.
We supply this information based on your original request. Please do not
hesitate to contact me at the above address if you have any queries
regarding the information supplied. Remember to quote the reference
number above in any future communications.
If you are unhappy with the handling of your request for information and
wish to make a complaint or request a review of our decision, in the first
instance you should contact the County Council, quoting your request
number given above, at:
Freedom of Information Officer
Surrey County Council
Legal Democratic & Cultural Services
County Hall
Penrhyn Road
Kingston upon Thames
Surrey
KT1 2DN
[Surrey County Council request email]
If you are not satisfied by the County Council’s response to your
complaint, you have the right to apply to the Information Commissioner for
a decision. The Information Commissioner will normally expect you to have
exhausted our complaints procedure. The Information Commissioner can be
contacted at:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Yours sincerely
Mrs Mary J Elliott
Freedom of Information Officer
Legal, Democratic and Cultural Services
(Mondays to Thursdays)
Corporate Information Governance Team (Room 138) | Democratic Services |
Surrey County Council | County Hall | Penrhyn Road | Kingston upon Thames
| Surrey | KT1 2DN
Tel: 020 8541 7969 | Email: [1][Surrey County Council request email]
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[Surrey County Council request email]
Dear Surrey County Council,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Surrey County Council's handling of my FOI request 'Eco Park/Waste contract/Pfi/waste infrastructure grant updates'.
I believe you are wrong to redact parts of your response, because it is very clearly in the public interest to see the unredacted version of your response, which again I request in electronic form.
In relation to the internal review and the considerations that should form part of this review, I believe that great weight should be given to the result of the recent First Tier Tribunal decision for Gloucestershire (Appeal No: EA/2015/0254-6) and to the Local Government Transparency Code.
The following passages from the Tribunal decision are particularly relevant to the case for greater disclosure:
"59. ...in our view there was a significant public interest in the disclosure of the entire [Waste] Contract, in the interests both of transparency and accountability, ie to enable the public to be informed as to exactly what the Council had agreed on their behalf and its long-term consequences and to hold it properly accountable, in particular through Council elections..."
"60. In this context we would also mention that our attention was drawn to the Government's own Local Government Transparency Code issued in October 2014 by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government under his powers under section 2 of the Local Government, Planning and Land Act 1980. Mr Hopkins submitted that it was of little weight but we regard it as of some significance in assessing the public interest factors given that it was issued by the relevant government department under a specific statutory power to make recommendations to local authorities as to publication of information about the discharge of their functions..."
"73. We were surprised at the failure to attach any great importance to...the Transparency Code...Mr Hopkins submitted that it was of little weight but we regard it as of some significance in assessing the public interest factors given that it was issued by the relevant government department under a specific statutory power to make recommendations to local authorities as to publication of information about the discharge of their functions."
The 2015 version of the Local Government Transparency Code includes the following:
"22. ...Local authorities should start from the presumption of openness and disclosure of information, and not rely on exemptions to withhold information unless absolutely necessary."
"Procurement information
...32. Local authorities must also publish details of any contract, commissioned activity, purchase order, framework agreement and any other legally enforceable agreement with a value that exceeds £5,000. For each contract, the following details must be published:
...description of the goods and/or services being provided
...sum to be paid over the length of the contract or the estimated annual spending or budget for the contract."
"54. Local authorities must publish details of their existing waste collection contracts, in line with the details contained in paragraph 32. Local authorities must publish this information at the same time as they first publish quarterly procurement information under paragraphs 27, 31 and 32 of this Code."
"60. It is recommended that local authorities should go further than the minimum publication requirements set out in Part 2 and publish: ... all contracts in their entirety where the value of the contract exceeds £5,000".
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/e...
I look forward to your response.
Yours faithfully,
Adrian Corti
Dear Mr Corti
INTERNAL REVIEW INTO THE HANDLING OF THE RESPONSE TO ENVIRONMENTAL
INFORMATION REQUEST REF: 16739
INTERNAL REVIEW REF: 17119
Thank you for your email dated 16 August 2017 requesting an internal
review of the handling of the request in accordance with Regulation 11 of
the Environmental Information Regulations 2004.
We will send a written reply detailing the results of the review within
the prescribed deadline.
Regards
Helen Gilbert
Commons Registration Officer
Legal, Democratic & Cultural Services
(Mon - Thurs 9am to 3pm)
Corporate Information Governance Team (Room 138) | Democratic Services |
Surrey County Council | County Hall | Penrhyn Road | Kingston upon Thames
| Surrey | KT1 2DN
Tel: 020 8541 8935 | Email: [1][email address] | GCSx email
for [OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE]: [2][email address]
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. mailto:[email address]
Dear Mr Corti
INTERNAL REVIEW INTO THE HANDLING OF THE RESPONSE TO FREEDOM OF
INFORMATION REQUEST REF: 16739
INTERNAL REVIEW REF: 17119
We have now completed the review of the handling of your request and
attach the report for your attention.
Regards
Helen Gilbert
Commons Registration Officer
Legal, Democratic & Cultural Services
(Mon - Thurs 9am to 3pm)
Corporate Information Governance Team (Room 138) | Democratic Services |
Surrey County Council | County Hall | Penrhyn Road | Kingston upon Thames
| Surrey | KT1 2DN
Tel: 020 8541 8935 | Email: [1][email address] | GCSx email
for [OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE]: [2][email address]
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. mailto:[email address]
Dear Helen Gilbert LDC,
Thank you for your response to my request for an internal review of my FOI request 'Eco Park/waste contract/pfi/waste infrastructure grant updates'.
However the attachment of the un-redacted April 2017 Monthly update is corrupt and does not open.
Please can you fix this and attach a working copy of this document with the dates un-redacted as promised?
I await your update.
Yours sincerely,
Adrian Corti
I am out of the office until 30 October 2017. If your enquiry is urgent
please redirect your email to [email address]
Dear Mr Corti
Further to your email of 23 October please find attached the document as requested.
Regards
Helen Gilbert
Commons Registration Officer
Legal, Democratic & Cultural Services
(Mon - Thurs 9am to 3pm)
Corporate Information Governance Team (Room 138) | Democratic Services | Surrey County Council | County Hall | Penrhyn Road | Kingston upon Thames | Surrey | KT1 2DN
Tel: 020 8541 8935 | Email: [email address] | GCSx email for [OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE]: [email address]
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