A report by the Director of Technical Services informed the Cabinet that the Council had received a claim for increased payment from a company who provided a service to process garden waste into reusable compost.

The report detailed the reasons supporting this claim, which had arisen from the significant increases in fuel costs over the past 12 months.  Also, a key contributing factor had been the company’s unsuccessful attempts to secure a local processing site and the costs associated with this.  The report also set out various options available to the Council.

Officers considered that, in the circumstances, the claim was fair and reasonable and recommended that the increased rate proposed be accepted.  However it was proposed that this be on the basis of a short term agreement, subject to further work being undertaken with the company over the next six months or so, to see if anything could be done to facilitate it securing a local composting site.

The report contained commercially sensitive information on existing and potential future market rates, to provide a garden waste composting service. For these reasons it was in the public interest to exclude the press and public in accordance with paragraph 2 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act.

RESOLVED:  That

(1)  Members note the outcome of the contractual negotiations with the company, along with the key implications associated with the officers’ assessment of the alternative options;

(2)  in accordance with the details contained within section 5.4 of the report, the company’s claim for a revised rate of £19.08 to be backdated to 1 April 2011, however, this agreement be subject to a number of conditions namely:

  (a)  officers from Technical Services, work in conjunction with their colleagues from Forward Planning and Wirral Invest, with a view to helping to facilitate a suitable alternative composting site for the company;

  (b)  the agreement to relate to the period April 2011 to March 2012 and a further report be submitted to the Cabinet later this year, detailing the outcome of the work proposed in (a) above and a detailed review of the potential options for the way forward; and

(c)  in the event that a mutually satisfactory solution cannot be found for a way forward from April 2012 to the planned conclusion of the existing Contract in March 2014, officers provide proposals for a planned withdrawal from the contract on the basis of allowing sufficient time for a retendering of the contract.