Councillors in Daventry have approved ‘in principle’ a decision to enter a joint venture with Norse Commercial Services once its collections contract with Amey ends in June 2018.
The South Midlands-based council, which met last week (23 February), voted to enter into an agreement with the Norfolk county council-owned company.
Daventry council is looking to Norse to deliver waste collections from June 2018
Councillors also agreed to allocate £2.5 million to enhance its waste depot and transfer station, to bring it up to modern standards and improve its efficiency.
It follows a meeting by the council’s Strategy Group on 9 February to discuss the option among other proposals such as sharing an ‘in-house’ service with one or more councils (see letsrecycle.com story).
Daventry has already agreed to a service redesign from 2018, which will involve introducing a weekly food waste collection and three-weekly collections of residual waste.
Should Norse agree to the venture, the arrangement would deliver a ‘1-2-3’ service together with street cleaning and grass-cutting.
Norse
A Teckal-exempt company operating at arm’s length from Norfolk county council, Norse already enjoys other collection joint ventures with councils in England, including neighbouring Wellingborough which is factored into the proposal.
According to an earlier report by Daventry council officers, a Norse joint venture is typically 80% owned by Norse and 20% by the relevant council, with two directors appointed by the authority and three appointed by the business.
The deal would also allow the council to offer a fully commingled recycling service, as the material will be able to be separated at Norse’s MRF in Norwich.
‘Affordable’
Councillor Jo Gilford, Environment Portfolio Holder at Daventry district council, said: “Having considered all the options, they have concluded the proposed joint venture with Norse is the best fit for our District’s future needs to provide an affordable, quality service.
“Norse has a proven track record of working with Councils and the joint venture arrangement would give us a greater degree of control over the service. It would also let us offer residents the simplest recycling service, with all materials going into one bin.”
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Source: letsrecycle.com Waste Managment
