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WASTE GIANT FAILS TO
OVERTURN PUBLIC RIGHT TO KNOW
Friends of the Earth press release
Embargo: 09:30 hrs, Friday 29 October 2010
Contact: Marie Reynolds, Friends of the Earth press
office - 07849 785635
Laura Gyte, Friends of the Earth
lawyer – 07800 634676
Shlomo Dowen - 01623 640134
SECOND VICTORY FOR LOCAL RESIDENT IN LANDMARK
SECRECY COURT BATTLE WITH WASTE GIANT
The multinational waste company Veolia Environmental
Services today lost its Appeal against a High Court
ruling which ordered it to release details of its
£850 million waste management contract with its
waste partner Nottinghamshire County Council to
local residents [1].
This is the latest in a long line of cases in which
information Veolia has tried to withhold has been
forcibly made public [2].The judgement, confirmed by
the Court of Appeal, set an important precedent for
local authorities with immediate impacts for other
councils around the country [3].
Veolia initiated the case, asking the High Court to
judicially review Nottinghamshire County Council’s
decision to release details of its multi-million
pound waste management contract following a request
by local resident and waste campaigner Shlomo Dowen,
of People Against Incineration (PAIN), under local
authority audit laws. The High Court ordered Veolia
to release the information, and the Court of Appeal
has upheld the High Court’s broad interpretation of
the right of access to information under the audit
laws [4]. The Court of Appeal added a qualification
that where the information is commercially
confidential the authority must still release it
where it is in the public interest to do so.
Mr Dowen was represented by lawyers from Friends of
the Earth’s Rights and Justice Centre and Timothy
Pitt-Payne QC at the Appeal, which was heard in
July.
Information released following the High Court
judgement showed how much money Veolia has been
charging the local council for each method of waste
treatment, such as landfill, incineration, recycling
and composting, and helped show whether or not the
local authority is getting value for money. As a
direct result of the release of the information, the
district auditors carried out several
investigations, and will release their report
following the judgement today.
The High Court case spawned a facebook page, and
resulted in similar requests for waste contract
details from Local Authorities in: Shropshire;
Nottinghamshire; Leicestershire; Newcastle; Dudley;
Hull; East Yorkshire; Derby; Bristol;
Gloucestershire; and Warwickshire.
The case joins a series of blows for incineration in
the UK [5].
Shlomo Dowen said:
“Truth is the best friend of every anti-incineration
campaigner. Information that has been released to
campaigners provides a valuable, powerful and
effective resource. We have used this information to
help District Auditors' investigations, for planning
objections, and in public inquiries with great
success. Such information is an antidote to the
industry's propaganda. This decision will be
celebrated, again, by campaigners throughout the UK.
And of course, the implications for accountability
go well beyond waste campaigning."
Friends of the Earth Lawyer acting for Mr Dowen,
Laura Gyte, said:
“The Court of Appeal have confirmed the victory in
this case for freedom of information and the
residents of Nottinghamshire.
“Veolia was forced to 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.
“We are disappointed that the Court of Appeal
implied a qualification on commercial
confidentiality – in our view this is a matter for
Parliament to decide upon – but it is important that
even where commercial confidentiality is claimed,
the audit laws mean that public authorities must
still disclose the information where it is in the
public interest to do so.”
For the past six years Veolia has been embroiled in
a controversial attempt to build a waste incinerator
in Sherwood Forest. A public inquiry was held in
Rainworth near Mansfield, Nottinghamshire. The
public inquiry, which opened on 6 October 2009 and
came to an end on 26 October 2010, involved Veolia,
Nottinghamshire County Council, Natural England,
Newark & Sherwood District Council, Nottinghamshire
Wildlife Trust, and the local anti-incineration
campaign group PAIN. A decision on Veolia's proposed
Sherwood Forest incinerator is expected in 2011.
ENDS
Notes:
1. The original Judicial Review was heard by the
High Court on 25-26 August 2009, and judgement was
given by Cranston J on 1 October 2009.
http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/press_releases/veolia_court
case_01092009.html
2. Examples include: 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. 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 beyond rights of access under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000.
The Court of Appeal has upheld the broad right of
access to information under the Act.
It also ruled that commercial confidentiality must be considered by a
Local Authority when deciding what information to
disclose under the Act, but that it can be
outweighed
by the public interest in transparency.
4. Hearings for the Public Inquiry into the
proposed Sherwood Forest Incinerator
concluded on 26 October 2010. People against
Incineration was joined at the
Inquiry by Newark and Sherwood District Council and
Notts Wildlife Trust who also opposed Veolia's
incinerator plans.
5. Both Friends of the Earth and the United
Kingdom Without Incineration Network (UKWIN) have
successfully lobbied Government to drop PFI funding
for six incinerator-based waste projects. Also:
· an application for an incinerator in
Chesterfield was recently refused planning
permission in a 8-1 vote -
http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/Toxic-waste-plan-is-turned.6590314.jp
· Biffa's planned 300,000 tonne per year
incinerator at Shepshed in Leicestershire was
refused planning permission by Leicestershire county
council
http://www.letsrecycle.com/do/ecco.py/view_item?listid=37&listcatid=217&listitemid=56474&
amp;section=waste_management
· In September, plans for a massive
incinerator in Coventry were defeated after a
5 year battle -
http://ukwin.org.uk/2010/10/02/coventry-incinerator
-pfi-is-scrapped/
· Also in September, Shrewsbury Shropshire
Council unanimously turned down Veolia’s plans for
an incinerator at Battlefield, despite
recommendations from planning officers that they
should approve the application.
http://safewasteshrewsbury.blogspot.com/
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. More than 90 per cent of our income
comes from individuals so we rely on donations to
continue our vital work. For further information
visit
www.foe.co.uk
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