How much can you spend on a closed waste plant? erm MILLIONS!

 August 2019 was a great month for residents in Derby UK and especially those in the Sinfin, Normanton and Osmaston wards of the city because it was the month the councils of Derby and Derbyshire FINALLY pulled the plug on the controversial waste gasification incineration plant on Sinfin Lane in Sinfin, Derby. Constructed and commissioned by Resource Recovery Solutions Derbyshire Ltd - a joint venture by Renewi and Interserve as part of a long term residual waste contract the wheels fell off the project when the plant never reached the end of commissioning. The councils pulling the plug shortly led to RRS- Resource Recovery Solutions Derbyshire Ltd falling into administration which is where it stays.

Shortly after the plant closed conveniently for some the councils awarded a contract to Renewi UK Services Ltd. This included clearing the Sinfin Lane site of waste, maintaining the equipment on site, organising tests and putting the equipment to bed while keeping the lights on! The stack glows like Mount Doom in the hours of darkness for example. 

One of my previous blog posts places focus on a report from October 2019 in relation to some of the issues with the plant itself which can be read here

  http://derby-waste-a-rubbish-blog.blogspot.com/2021/05/the-sinfin-incinerator-has-more-than.html 

Obviously the works carried out by Renewi UK Services Ltd to clear the site of waste and to then clean down and put the plant to bed was going to cost some money as was carrying out tests on the sites equipment to make judgements on it later. But just how much the councils were going to cough up was not clear so it was time to do some digging. We all like a dig about and why not when its council tax being spent! 

My first investigation was to submit an EIR or to use it's full name a Environmental Information Request to Derby City Council. I dont have a good relationship with the council department that handles such requests as I have now taken them to the Information Commissioner on a number of occasions but in this case they responded pretty clearly.

I asked Derby City Council how much money they had spent on the Derby and Derbyshire Waste Treatment Centre on Sinfin Lane Derby. That is the posh name for the Sinfin incinerator and the requested time period was from closure in August 2019 to the end of September 2021 in an attempt to gather a good two years worth of figures as the plant closed in the August of 2019 there would be some time before costs kicked in.

So what did we learn? Well in that period Derby City Council spent an eye watering £6,211,972 !

That meant I then had to ask the same question to Derbyshire County Council who are in partnership  with Derby City via an Inter Authority Agreement. As part of that agreement all costs are split based on a default allocation. In this case Derby City pays 26.6% of the costs and Derbyshire County Council pays 73.4%. 

So what did we learn from the same question when put to Derbyshire County Council? 

Well we learnt from Derbyshire County Council that in the same period they splashed their council tax payers cash to the tune of £19,623,280 which is an eye watering amount for a waste plant site that is simply being cleared, cleaned, preserved and checked over and part of all that includes keeping the power on - and for anyone that knows the site its lit up like a Christmas tree every night of the year! 

So between them the councils spent in that period £25,835,252 - Nearly £26 MILLION to clean, maintain and keep the lights on at a closed waste facility. So that includes £895,989 spent just on electricity at the site which formed part of the payment to Renewi UK Services Ltd, Renewi formed the bulk of the spend at the site over the period in question. How can you spend close to £26 million in just over two years when your not even fixing the facility?

The councils want us to believe that this large cost will be knocked off the final fair value for the site when they come to an agreement with those with an interest in the site - such as the administrators of Resource Recovery Solutions Derbyshire Ltd and the hedge fund that has now taken on the debt owed to the set of banks that previously funded the actual construction of the waste disposal plant. 

Outside of the council bubble nobody thinks anything will be saved from this long term maintenance when it comes to deciding a fair value, it being all hot air - which being closed is one thing the Sinfin incinerator does not produce - THANKFULLY! 

©SIMON BACON 2022