Issue - meetings

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive (Place)

The Cabinet considered a report of the Deputy Chief Executive (Place), which sought approval to sell a C class share in the Coventry and Solihull Waste Disposal Company Limited to Leicestershire County Council.

The Coventry and Solihull Waste Disposal Company Limited (CSWDC) was jointly owned by Coventry City Council, (66 Class A Shares), Solihull Borough Council (33 Class B Shares) and Warwickshire County Council (1 Class C Share).  It was noted that the Class A and Class B Shareholders were entitled to dividends from the Company, whilst C Class Shareholders were not.

As well as providing the primary waste treatment capacity for Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire, CSWDC also obtained considerable revenues from the sale of electricity, heat and waste treatment capacity to other local authorities.  Over the last seven years, this has helped CSWDC to return significant levels of dividends back to Coventry and Solihull Councils.

A challenge for CSWDC was securing a mixture of long term and short term waste contracts to fill the waste treatment capacity not used by Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire.  Currently, Leicestershire County Council supplied waste to CSWDC through an existing medium term contract.

It was proposed to sell an additional C Class Share in CSWDC to Leicestershire County Council for £50,000, to be split by the three existing Shareholders, thereby securing their tonnage input for the next 25 years.  As with the existing C Class Share, this additional share would not attract the payment of dividends.

RESOLVED that the Cabinet:-

1.  Delegate authority to the Director of Streetscene and Regulatory Services, Director of Finance and Corporate Services and the Legal Services Manager to agree detailed terms of the transaction.

2.  Delegate authority to the Director of Streetscene and Regulatory Services, Director of Finance and Corporate Services and Legal Services Manager to enter into the relevant legal agreements and associated documents necessary to complete the transaction.

3.  Approve the issues of one Class C share in Coventry and Solihull Waste Disposal Company to Coventry City Council for the immediate forward sale to Leicestershire County Council.

4.  Approve the immediate forward sale of one C Class share from Coventry City Council to Leicestershire County Council, allowing them to become a shareholder in the Coventry and Solihull Waste Disposal Company.