The meeting was held in closed session at this stage so that discussion on the exempt appendices could go ahead.

The Head of Environment and Leisure introduced the confidential appendices which provided information on the financial implications and a breakdown of pricing in comparison to alternative models including breakdown of fleet funding costs.

Members made the following comments:

·         The Council wanted an improved contract, which was a priority, and so it was necessary to accept that it would cost more money;

·         there needed to be a clear explanation why the Council could not operate the waste contract through a Local Authority Controlled Company or a Direct Service Organisation (in-house);

·         Members were not aware of how the figures in the appendices were arrived at, and this was important in making their decision on the contract;

·         clarity was needed on where the garden waste would be taken to;

·         sought more information on the location of Company A’s depot;

·         was Company A aware that the Council was buying the fleet of vehicles?;

·         concerned with the increased costs of the contract;

·         considered income could be generated for the Council from the other two options; and

·         concerned with the risk of the Council owning the vehicle fleet.

In response, the Head of Environment and Leisure explained that an external consultant, together with the Director of Resources, the Interim Head of Finance and Procurement and himself had scrutinised the figures and he outlined how they had been arrived at.  He referred to the Cabinet report for June 2021 which went into detail on the two alternative options.  He said that, after following advice from the Monitoring Officer, some generic information on the two options could be sent to Members.  The two other options would mean that the Council would be ‘doing it alone’ and would not have the resilience that would be in place if Company A had the contract, and this would mean the risk of non-delivery would increase.

The Head of Environment and Leisure said that the bidders were advised at the start to provide information for both the Council and the contractor providing the vehicles.  Following discussion with the bidders in the competitive dialogue sessions, the MKWP made bidders aware in the final stage that the Councils would buy the fleet.  The fleet would include all the vehicles required for the waste and street cleansing service.  He explained that garden waste would be taken to Church Marshes in Sittingbourne, then on to Blaise Farm in West Malling, with KCC being the disposal authority.  He was unable to give any details about the location of the depot as this would identify Company A, but confirmed it met all of the required criteria and would not impact operations/staffing.

The Head of Environment and Leisure said that all local authorities had seen increased costs and he considered Company A offered a good value contract, and the Council could not do it any cheaper.  The Environmental Services Manager added that at the moment there was uncertainty within the waste industry, with a lot of unknowns.

The Head of Environment and Leisure explained that there was limited income possible from the other two delivery options as there were very few services the Council operated on that basis.  One option was through commercial waste, but it was difficult to make a profit and the Council would be competing against other businesses with this type of experience.

The Interim Head of Finance and Procurement explained that everything was being done to minimise the cost of buying the fleet of vehicles and this would be by using a mixture of borrowing to minimise the cost to the Council.  This would be by using capital receipts which would decrease borrowing costs; by offsetting the decision with the public works loans board; short-term borrowing from other local authorities and from cash reserves.

In terms of the risks and benefits to the Council, the Head of Environment and Leisure explained that there was a low cost of borrowing, and the Council would be in charge of its own destiny. 

The Chair announced that the vote would be taken in open session.