25-year deal protects Cumbria environment

Jul 8 2009 by Peter McCusker, The Journal

EXPERTS from Dickinson Dees played a role in a 25-year deal in which Cumbria County Council has appointed the Shanks Group as its waste management partner.

Under the agreement much of the county’s waste will be sent to mechanical biological treatment (MBT) plants and the contract includes the development of two plants with a combined capacity of 150,000 tonnes a year. The 11-strong team from Newcastle law firm Dickinson Dees, including expertise drawn from its projects, environment and safety, corporate, planning and property departments, advised the council.

The firm’s lead partner and national projects expert Iain Greenshields said: “Our relationship with the council’s team, as well as with Shanks and their advisers, has been instrumental in bringing this project to a successful conclusion.

“It has taken a number of years for this project to come to fruition, but the council can now look forward to improved waste treatment, a better environmental solution for handling the county’s waste and a much reduced landfill requirement.”

County assistant head of waste management Nigel Christian said: “We are absolutely delighted to have secured this contract, which will truly revolutionise waste disposal in Cumbria.

“We will now have a cost-effective system for dealing with waste for many years to come and we would like to take the opportunity to thank the team at Dickinson Dees for all of their hard work.” MBT is a sustainable and progressive waste technology which allows waste to be shredded, dried and transformed into solid recovered fuel (SRF) which can then be burned to provide an alternative source of energy to fossil fuels.

The deal with Shanks means the amount of waste sent to landfill by the council will fall by 80%, leading to a major reduction in the methane the county produces.

Norton Rose acted the for lenders, SMBC, Barclays and NIBC, which committed equal amounts to a total debt commitment of £64m. DLA Piper advised Shanks Group.