Value for money proven through newly published document

Gloucestershire County Council has today released a value for money report related to Javelin Park that confirms the project represents value for money and is affordable.  

The value for money report by Ernst and Young, a global leader in financial services, has assessed the contract for Javelin Park and concluded that at the point negotiations concluded in 2016, the contract represented value for money and was affordable to the council.

When compared to the option of continuing to deal with waste via landfill and the cost of cancelling the contract with UBB, Ernst and Young concluded that it was 15.8% cheaper to manage waste via the Javelin Park facility. This increased to 19.8% cheaper, when the agreed level of capital investment is applied.

Having scrutinised the affordability of the project to the council, Ernst and Young concluded that the contract was affordable and that the council had set aside necessary annual budget and reserves for the lifetime of the project.

As part of considering affordability, Ernst and Young considered how much it would cost the council to deal with each tonne of waste that will go to Javelin Park – this cost is called a Gate Fee. The report highlights that the gross Gate Fees listed only ‘tell part of the story’ because they don’t take account of income the council will receive, which will reduce the amount paid per tonne.

To provide a more accurate per tonne cost, that can be applied over the lifetime of the contract, Ernst and Young calculated a Real Average Gate Fee, £112.47, which takes account of the three gross figures quoted and the forecast income the council will receive from the sale of electricity and third party waste contracts. £112.47 is comfortably within the range of per tonne cost for waste plants as published in 2016 by Waste & Resources Action Programme.

Along with the value for money report an updated version of the contract has also been released, concluding the outstanding Freedom of Information and Information Commissioner processes.

Cllr Mark Hawthorne, Leader of Gloucestershire County Council said: “We are always keen to be as open and transparent as possible although we have to take into account concerns of partners and the financial impact of releasing specific details. Following UBB’s agreement, we are publishing the value for money report, which independently confirms the financial case for Javelin Park.

Over 25 years, Javelin Park will deliver £100m in savings for the council, helping protect other vital services the most vulnerable people in our county depend on. This report makes that clear.”