Incinerator Decision to be Scrutinised

11.35.00am BST (GMT +0100) Wed 9th Sep 2009

Liberal Democrat and other back-bench councillors have requested that Monday's decision on an incinerator be "called in" for further consideration. 12 councillors signed the official request, and it is likely that the decision will be looked at by the Growth & Infrastructure Scrutiny Committee on Wednesday 16th September.

"We have 'called in' this decision for a number of reasons," said Cllr Zoe Patrick, Leader of the Opposition. "First amongst these is the very poor publicity given to this special meeting - with the announcement on a Bank Holiday Monday and a very late and difficult to find, agenda on the County Council's website.

"But we have other reasons as well. We believe that the two planning applications should have been decided upon before a political decision was made on which bidder to accept, and at Monday's meeting there appeared to be confusion about which elements of the bidding process were mandatory.

"Liberal Democrats have long called for the most environmentally sensitive available option to be the one preferred, and we were disappointed to see that the decision at Cabinet was being made purely on financial grounds without environmental considerations having a part. And we have called for a specific break clause to be included in any contract, because new technologies are coming on the market all the time and might be suitable in a few years' time, and this is something that we want to add now.

"As well as not considering the impact on the environment, including any transport issues, there was no consideration on Monday of the performance or track record of the two companies concerned and an inadequate debate on the capacity of any incinerator in the context of what Oxfordshire needs. For all these reasons, we believe that the decision, being made on financial grounds alone, is inadequate and should be reconsidered.

"We are grateful to the Green Councillors and the Independent Councillor for also signing the call in request. This shows that the uneasiness is widespread; this is not a party political issue but real concern that the County Council makes the correct decision on such an important issue."