(By email)

Dear Mr Foster,

I write in response to your email dated 19^th November regarding the TV ERF project following our recent exchange of correspondence.

On behalf of the seven partner authorities involved in the TV ERF project, we feel that we have repeatedly addressed various concerns raised by SINE and that this exchange is now in danger of becoming repetitive.

Many of the concerns you and SINE raised in your last email, related to capacity and commercial considerations, are a matter of opinion about what will transpire in future rather than objective fact – even if you choose to present them as such. Furthermore, those opinions are supported by a report produced by the UK’s most prominent anti-incineration campaigner, rather than an objective and agnostic analysis of the kind undertaken by the TV ERF project partners over the course of this project.

As stated in our previous letter, it is the role and responsibility of the partner authorities to use all available credible data to predict, with as much accuracy as possible, what is likely to occur in future, not what we hope will occur. Major infrastructure projects like the TV ERF require significant planning and take years to build, so cannot simply be turned on or off in response to dynamic market conditions. We must therefore plan and take the necessary decisions to ensure adequate waste treatment provision is maintained in perpetuity so that we may continue to discharge our important statutory obligations. 

In all areas of council business, local authorities must often take significant and challenging decisions on behalf of the residents we serve and, having considered all available data (which include the impacts of the legislative and policy instruments you specifically referred to – but which we alluded to in our previous letter), we are satisfied that the TV ERF remains the only safe, reliable, sustainable and affordable solution for meeting the region’s residual waste treatment needs now, and into the future.

That is why we are now working to agree the final contractual detail with our chosen partner prior to signing these contracts early in the New Year.

More information about the project is publicly available at www.tverf.co.uk which will continue to be updated as the project progresses.

Yours sincerely

Denise McGuckin
TV ERF Project Sponsor

Cc (by email):

• Matt Vickers MP
• Chris McDonald MP
• Luke Myer MP
• Andy McDonald MP
• Jonathan Brash MP
• Lola McEvoy MP
• Luke Akehurst MP
• Mary Kelly Foy MP
• Grahame Morris MP
• Sam Rushworth MP
• Alan Strickland MP
• Liz Twist MP
• Chi Onwurah MP
• Catherine McKinnell MP
• Mary Glindon MP
• The Council Leaders and Chief Executive Officers/Managing Directors of Darlington Borough Council, Durham County Council, Hartlepool Borough Council, Middlesbrough Council, Newcastle City Council, Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council, and Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council
• Members of the TV ERF Governance Board