United Kingdom Without Incineration Network

Friends of the Earth press release

For immediate release: Thursday 1 October 2009

The giant waste company Veolia Environmental Services today lost its High Court
bid to keep details of its £850 million waste management contract with
Nottinghamshire County Council secret from local residents [1]. This is the
third time that information about the French-owned company’s activities has been
forcibly made public [2]. The judgment sets an important precedent for local
authorities with immediate impacts for other councils around the country [3].

Veolia asked for the High Court to judicially review Nottinghamshire County
Council’s decision to release details of its multi-million pound waste
management contract – including invoices paid by the local council – following a
request by local resident and waste campaigner Shlomo Dowen, of People Against
Incineration (PAIN), under local authority audit laws [4]. Veolia had previously
obtained an interim injunction to prevent publication until the case could be
heard.

Mr Dowen was represented by lawyers from Friends of the Earth’s Rights and
Justice Centre at the Judicial Review, which was heard last month.

Information in the contract and the invoices will show how much money Veolia is
charging the local council for each method of waste treatment, such as landfill,
incineration, recycling and composting, and will help show whether or not the
local authority is getting value for money.

Shlomo Dowen said:
“This decision, which is clearly the right one, strengthens our right to see how
public money is spent buying public services from large corporations. I am not
convinced that Nottinghamshire Council is getting best value for our money – now
I will be in a better position to investigate those suspicions.”

Friends of the Earth’s Head of Legal and Mr Dowen’s lawyer, Phil Michaels, said:
“This is a tremendous victory for freedom of information and the residents of
Nottingham. Veolia must come clean about its waste disposal contract and allow
council tax payers to see how vast sums of their money is being spent, and how
their rubbish is being disposed of.”

Mr Dowen has already accessed some information from the Council and has asked
the District Auditor to investigate amount of money it is charging
Nottinghamshire’s County Council in respect of landfill tax.

Veolia is also embroiled in another controversy with Nottinghamshire County
Council over its plans to build an incinerator on a former colliery site in
Sherwood Forest. The company claims that local waste levels are expected to rise
significantly in the coming years – a fact hotly disputed by PAIN, who point to
evidence that Nottinghamshire’s waste levels have actually fallen [5].

Veolia has said it will not be appealing today’s judgement.

ENDS

Notes:

1. The Judicial Review was heard on 25-26 August 2009

http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/press_releases/secret_waste_contract_25082009.html

.

2. In the past two years information about Veolia’s waste contracts with local
authorities has twice been ordered to be released following complaints to the
Information Commissioner. In April last year, following a formal complaint by a
Friends of the Earth local group, the Information Commissioner ordered South
Down Waste Services, a subsidiary of Veolia, to release information about its
Newhaven incinerator. He ruled that a private waste management company that has
a contract with a local authority is required to make environmental information
public because it is classed the same as a public authority under the
Environmental Information Regulations 2004.

http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/press_releases/waste_companies_must_open_02042008.

html. In another case in November 2007, the Information Commissioner ordered
East Sussex County Council to make public its £1 billion integrated waste
management contract with Veolia despite protestations that the contract was
commercially confidential.

http://www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/decisionnotices/2007/fer_0099394.pdf

3. Friends of the Earth is aware of a number of authorities that have received
similar requests for information and are waiting for the outcome of this case
before deciding whether to release the information requested by local electors.

4. Mr Dowen asked for the information under the Audit Commission Act 1998.
That law provides members of the public with legal rights of access to all
contracts, books, bills, and accounts of a public authority for a 20 working day
period each year so that they can participate in the local audit process. This
is a unique right of access to information that goes considerably beyond rights
of access under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 – in large part because it
is not subject to any commercial confidentiality exemptions.

5. Hearings for the Public Inquiry into the proposed Sherwood Forest
Incinerator will begin on 6th October 2009 in Rainworth, near Mansfield. These
hearings are expected to last for three weeks. People against Incineration is
joined at the Inquiry by Newark and Sherwood District Council and Notts Wildlife
Trust who also oppose Veolia’s incinerator plans.

6. Friends of the Earth believes the environment is for everyone. We want a
healthy planet and a good quality of life for all those who live on it. We
inspire people to act together for a thriving environment. For further
information visit www.foe.co.uk.