Is the waste incinerator being built by the M5 in Gloucestershire actually good value for money? Taxpayers could find out sooner rather than later.

Gloucestershire County Council has today announced it is releasing another version of its £500m contract for the Javelin Park incinerator still under construction outside Stonehouse.

Release of an "updated contract" along with a "value for money assessment" before Christmas will show the £100m savings the project will yield for taxpayers, the council says.

The release comes after the county council was ordered in the summer to reveal key financial information about the incinerator that it had wanted kept secret.

Campaigners have argued the information, such as the cost of burning waste and how much the electricity it generates will be sold for, is needed for taxpayers to see if the incinerator is a good use of public cash.

A man from Stroud, Sid Saunders, even went on hunger strike outside the council's offices in Gloucester in May to protest what he saw as "a lack of transparency".

 

But the council has previously deemed the information commercially sensitive, arguing releasing it would weaken its hand when negotiating other deals.

The council had launched an appeal against the Information Commissioner's order, originally prompted by a Freedom of Information request, with the hearing set for January, but the council has now dropped its challenge. 

Not releasing the information so far has meant the council has treated the public with "contempt," argues county councillor Rachel Smith, a Green who represents Minchinhampton.

"When the council signs a contract, it is public money they are spending. For a 25-year contact with no easy exit, we have more right than ever to know the details of the deal," she said.

"Yet it has taken 21 months, a local resident going on hunger strike, and hundreds of hours of campaigning just to get here.

"If information had been transparent from the start, the monster incinerator at Javelin Park would never have been built. Transparency is an opportunity to work with the public on finding the right solutions: but the council's cabinet seem to treat the public with contempt."

First 'hot' trials of the incinerator - where waste is actually burnt - are scheduled to start in March after the facility was connected to the grid last month.