High Court approves waste privatisation deal

Hambleton and Richmondshire councils in North Yorkshire have agreed to sell-off their commercial waste collection service to Yorwaste, whose chairman is Arthur Barker, Conservative leader of Hambleton Council until he stood down last month.

The deal had been the subject of a judicial review from one of Yorwaste's competitors, the Durham Company, who argued that Yorwaste had an unfair advantage through Coun Barker's position.

Coun Barker, who received 40,000 from Yorwaste in the four years up to the end of the 2009 financial year, had always denied any wrongdoing and said he had acted within the rules surrounding declarations of interest when the issue was discussed by Hambleton Council. Yorwaste is jointly owned by North Yorkshire County Council, of which Coun Barker is also a member, and City of York Council.

The council had teamed up with neighbouring Richmondshire to sell off the commercial waste service last year, with Hambleton taking the lead in administering the process.

Yorwaste won the initial tendering process in December but, after the company sought to revise its bid downwards on the grounds the terms of the contract had altered, a fresh bidding process was undertaken.

The Durham Company challenged the process but a High Court judge ruled Coun Barker had not acted improperly, leaving the councils free to select a winning bid, which was again Yorwaste.

Coun Barker said he had no comment to make on the final award of the contract but reiterated he had taken no part in the decision-making.

He added: "I am satisfied with the judge's decision that he found no case to answer regarding the allegations made in relation to me."

Hambleton Council executive director Phillip Morton added: "The Durham Company was refused leave to pursue a Judicial Review against both councils – the High Court Judge decided that the councils have no case to answer.

"The decision of the judge can be seen as vindicating the actions of the council in this matter."

Yorwaste will begin running the service across the two councils' areas from July 5.

The Durham Company issued a statement expressing disappointment and frustration at the final outcome.

It said: "We would have liked to appeal the court's decision but unfortunately, even in these austere times, the public purse runs deeper than our own and so we have had to accept the decision of the court, whilst questioning the morality and 'justice' of that decision."