FULL and unredacted details about the £500 million contract for the Javelin Park Incinerator will be the subject of a complex High Court battle this week.

Gloucestershire County Council has been ordered to make all the information on its contract with to Urbaser Balfour Beatty (UBB) available to the public.

So far it has released the majority of the half a billion pound deal on its website – but it has redacted key information, dates and figures.

Last year the Information Commissioner ruled that it must release 100 per cent of the withheld information of the huge document.

The council is going to an Information Tribunal on Tuesday September 27 in an attempt to make sure the censored details remain out of the public’s hands.

It argues key details have been blacked out because of concerns over commercial confidentiality of its partner UBB, the company building the facility near Haresfield.

Deputy leader of the council Ray Theodoulou (Conservative) said: "We've published as much information as we legally can about the contract – with over 95 per cent already on our website.

“Releasing the remaining information to everyone would mean that when the council negotiates with private companies in the future, they will have details of what we have agreed and paid in the past.

"This puts us at a disadvantage when we’re trying to get the best prices for local taxpayers. 

“That’s why we have appealed the Information Commissioner’s decision and are presenting our case at the tribunal.”

However the redacted sections also include information on how the incinerator would be operated and details on the council’s commitment to minimising pollution and protecting the environment.

Sarah Lunnon, Green county councillor from Stroud and a long-term opponent of the incinerator, will be attending the Court Hearing in London.

“We the council taxpayers of Gloucestershire are paying the bill, we should be able to see what we are buying,” she said.

The ruling that GCC had to release all the information came after several Freedom of Information requests were submitted by members of the public in Gloucestershire.

Jojo Mehta, 38 Degrees Stroud member and co-organiser, was one of those who submitted a request for transparency.

She argues the council has been using its own public money to hide secrets from its own taxpayers.

"Yet again the County Council are refusing to provide any meaningful information about what they are doing with taxpayers' money. The situation is absurd,” she told the SNJ.

"You couldn't make it up. What exactly have GCC been doing if not 'preventing' disclosure?

“Here we have a public body using unrestricted public funds to withhold information from the public about the spending of public funds on a public contract.

“It's like a hall of mirrors or some kind of weird nightmare. When do we get to wake up?"

The trial begins at the High Court on Tuesday and is expected to last four days. It is unclear whether a decision will be made immediately.

A 3000-strong 38 Degrees petition was submitted to GCC at the time asking the council to "Come Clean & Show Us the Contract".

As the council continued to withhold the requested information the petition continued to grow and now has over 4,800 signatures.

Javier Peiro, managing director at Urbaser, said: “From the very start of this process, we have been clear that full disclosure of contract detail would go against rightful commercial confidentiality bound within a contract that would have wider implications, beyond Urbaser Balfour Beatty, to all local authorities and private sector businesses involved in procurement.

“UBB’s concerns are that confidential information including commercial, intellectual and technical details could be compromised, giving our competitors an advantage in a very dynamic market.

“The contract is already available for the public, which includes all the information needed to understand how it works and the agreement made.

“It is just less than 5 per cent that falls under confidential information, which protects our competitiveness in the market.

“The project has a planning permission, a contract and an Environmental Permit and our focus is on constructing Gloucestershire’s Energy from Waste facility so that from 2019, the county and its residents can move away from relying so heavily on landfill.”

  • The public may attend the Tribunal (Gloucestershire County Council vs Information Commissioner), which will be held from 10am-5pm across four days from 27-30 September at Field House, 15-25 Bream Buildings, London EC4A 1DZ.