WHEN the district council challenges the decisions made by the county council you know you are in trouble.

And when that also involves taking on the Secretary of State too the question has to be how on earth has it ever come to this?

Eric Pickles will face a legal challenge over his approval of Gloucestershire’s controversial £500m incinerator.

The secretary of state for the department for communities and local government gave the nod for the waste burner earlier this year to much local outrage.

The district council is contesting that decision.

And now we are in a farcical and potentially financially-draining situation where those against and those for get themselves into a tennis match.

UBB who want to supply the incinerator says it would assist in defending the case.

Those against say they will fight on.

You couldn’t make it up. And it is all because GCC refused to listen and pushed on to sign the contract, against its own planning department’s wishes.

Councillor Ray Theodoulou, deputy leader of Gloucestershire County says even if a judicial review were to succeed, its effect would only be to make the secretary of state take the decision again – it would not necessarily change the outcome of that decision.

But what we have to remember is that over in Norfolk, even though Eric Pickles was advised to rule in favour of plans to build an energy waste plant in King’s Lynn, that contract was later scrapped.

The cost to Norfolk County Council was more than £33.7 million but the decision was based on a reassessment of whether the proposal still represented value for money.

The sizeable costs in walking away outweighed the long term outgoings so we mustn’t think it can’t be done.

The only infuriating thing is UBB has always been and will always be in a win-win situation when councils act so recklessly.