Scrap the Contract

We need a majority of County Councillors to vote to Scrap the Contract on 18th Feb 2015

Contact your councillor and ask that they vote to scrap the contact. Click here to find your councillor's contact details.

Further details can be found on this page.

Make or Break County Council Vote on 18th Feb 2015

County Councillors will vote on 18th Feb 2015 whether to scrap the

What Councillors Need to Understand

It is vital that councillors understand these things about the incinerator:

  • We can save circa. £250m by scrapping the contract and going with better, cheaper alternatives. This is in Gloucestershire's best financial interests. This is even after paying penalty clauses to break the contract with UBB. These savings could be put into front line services for children and care for the elderly. ( Read our Press Release from 20th Jan 2015 about how we believe that cancelling the contract could save millions).
  • The £60m - £100m cost to break the contract cited by the County Conservatives is not substantiated. No evidence or calculation has been given and hence it can't be relied upon. Big contract penalties for termination were cited in the case of the Norfolk incinerator, which then turned out to be grossly over inflated. In any event, these costs are far outweighed by savings from alternatives.
  • No need for the facility - there are plenty of cheaper alternative facilities with capacity available close to Gloucestershire, all of which would avoid land-filling our waste.
  • Upholding Local Democracy - the incinerator was opposed by our elected County Planning Committee, by thousands of local people, by Stroud, Gloucester and Cheltenham District Councils. National Government should not overrule local democracy.
  • And...the incinerator would damage the environment, be a massive eyesore, reduce recycling, and is not proven to be safe for human health.

incinerator contract during an "Extraordinary Meeting" at which GlosVAIN will also present its GCC petition.This is the best chance left we have to stop the incinerator. It all depends on a majority of councillors voting to scrap the contract.

Therefore it is vital that people contact their local county councillor and ask that they vote to scrap the contract on 18th Feb.

On this page you will find some key reasons why councillors should support scrapping the contract that you may find helpful.

Councillor Contact Details

scrap the contract

Click here to find your councillor's contact details.

PLEASE BE POLITE!

The Contract

The contract between GCC and UBB has never been fully disclosed. It was finally released on request in May 2013. However, much of the key information as regards dates and costs was either withheld or "redacted" (i.e. blacked out) in what was made available. Click to read the GCC/UBB Contract Documents.

With these details missing, and no calculation forthcoming from GCC in relation to the cited £60m-£100m termination penalty, there is no way we can be sure of the true costs of termination.

Political Landscape at GCC

It is generally assumed that the Conservative group will vote in favour of the incinerator. Labour has put forward the motion to scrap the contract, supported by the Green councillor.

councillors pie chart