Waste collection deal 'tainted by bias' claim

Arthur Barker's role in the proposed sell-off of commercial waste collection by Hambleton and Richmondshire councils resulted in an "entire process … tainted by … apparent and irremediable conflict of interest or bias", according to allegations contained in legal documents obtained by the Yorkshire Post.

Councillor Barker is the Conservative leader of Hambleton District Council and chairman of Yorwaste, the company which initially beat off competitors to win the contract in December. He denies any wrongdoing and states that he complied with rules on declaration of interest during the privatisation process.

It is understood the sell-off of the service will net the councils in excess of 500,000 and be worth more than that in commercial returns to the winning bidder.

The arrangements surrounding the sell-off have now been challenged in the High Court by one of the competitors, The Durham Company, which has applied for a judicial review, claiming Yorwaste had an unfair advantage.

Coun Barker, the former chairman of Local Government Yorkshire and Humber which represents the interests of councils across the region, is chairman and non-executive director of Yorwaste.

He has been a Yorwaste director since June 2005 after being nominated to the board by North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC) which jointly owns the company with City of York Council. Coun Barker, who is also a NYCC councillor, has received a total of 40,000 from Yorwaste in the four years up to the end of the 2009 financial year.

Hambleton Council teamed up with Richmondshire Council to sell off the trade waste collection service last year, with Hambleton taking the lead in administering the process.

Coun Barker chaired a meeting involving members of both councils in July which decided to instigate a potential sell-off when, according to the judicial review claim, he failed to declare an interest. The minutes are not recorded publicly and Hambleton Council declined to provide a copy to the Yorkshire Post as the meeting was considered confidential.

In September, Coun Barker chaired a Hambleton Council cabinet meeting which formally agreed to press ahead with a proposed sell-off. Council records show he did not declare an interest.

Hambleton Council's cabinet agreed to sell-off the service to Yorwaste after a competitive bidding process at a meeting in December. Coun Barker did declare an interest and took no part in that decision according to council records.

After winning the right to run the service as the highest bidder, Yorwaste sought to revise its offer downwards.

The response filed into court by Hambleton and Richmondshire Councils says this move revolved around a decision by North Yorkshire County Council to insist on the use of its landfill sites for waste disposal which effectively changed the terms on which the sell-off had been offered.

The councils said they then decided to re-open the tendering process – a move contested by The Durham Company which said the award should simply go to the next highest bidder and that any re-tendering process should bar Yorwaste as the company had an unfair advantage through its knowledge of its own winning bid.

The judicial review claim says: "Any decision that now favours Yorwaste must necessarily be tainted by actual or apparent bias, and/or conflict of interest.

"Yorwaste must therefore be excluded from any further consideration in this or any further bid process. Mr Barker's position makes it impossible to remedy the position."

The joint response submitted by the two councils refers to a witness statement from Coun Barker in which he says he took no part in the sell-off process beyond initial involvement in the decision that the service should go out to tender.

It adds that Coun Barker's statement says he took advice from council officers and was advised he did not have to declare an interest at that stage.

It also says his statement "confirms that he did not disclose any knowledge that he might have had to any third party, and in particular, not to Yorwaste."

A statement served into the High Court by Yorwaste, which is classed as an interested party in the case, similarly rejects accusations of bias or conflict of interest by Coun Barker. It also says that the company chairman "has not been involved in any way with (Yorwaste's) tender."

When approached by the Yorkshire Post, Coun Barker said he had taken no part in Yorwaste's preparation of a tender. He said he had sought and received verbal advice from the council on whether he should declare an interest and, though he couldn't recall when this was, he did say it was before September 15.

A High Court judge will now decide whether to grant a judicial review.