The Lib Dems have challenged figures produced by the county council which show that the council taxpayer will in effect be paying £5 million to a private development project.

This is due to the decision to move Southfield Special School on a temporary basis and to move the Park Education Support Centre permanently to make way for the new incinerator site in Hatfield.

County councillor Malcolm Cowan commented:

‘It should clearly be the responsibility of Veolia to pay for any disruptions caused. They selected that site and should have absorbed all the consequential costs in their bid document. Arguably this will have given them an advantage over the rival bidder who would not have needed to relocate facilities in the same way.

‘The Council is in effect paying potentially £4.9 million towards having BOTH the Special School temporarily relocated at a cost of £3.9m AND also the Park ESC permanently relocated at a possible further cost of £950k. Too much is being done to make New Barnfield the cheapest option by the county paying some of the costs.

‘Meanwhile it is making cuts in front line services.’