Purpose

The county council previously approved an
invest-to-save initiative for the commissioning of an Anaerobic
Digestion facility at the Farington Waste Recovery Park, South
Ribble, which was designed to provide a sustainable solution for
processing separately collected food waste. The project was
forecast to deliver a recurring annual saving of £5.5 million
as a return on investment.
 
The procurement processes for the facility
have now been completed but has resulted in an increase in the
capital budget requirement by £2.8 million. Despite this
increase, the project continues to offer a full payback within 12
months. This report now seeks approval for an additional one-off
capital investment of £2.8m in 2026/27 to complete the
works.
 
This is deemed to be a Key Decision, and the
requirements of the council's Cabinet procedure rules (Standing
Order C20, Urgent Key Decisions) have been complied with.
Compliance with Standing Order C18 and C19 was not possible due to
the confirmation of the additional capital expenditure occurred
late in the procurement process. To maintain the agreed procurement
timescales, a decision has to be considered, ahead of the next
Cabinet meeting on 22 January 2026.

Content

The Leader of the County Council, the Cabinet
Member for Data, Technology, Customer and Efficiency, and the
Cabinet Member for Rural Affairs, Environment and Communities
approved the additional one-off capital investment of £2.8m
in 2026/27 for the Anaerobic Digestion at the Farington Waste
Recovery Park,  making the capital
investment £5.36m in total with Blackpool Council
contributing £670,000.
 
This decision be implemented immediately for
the purposes of Standing Order C28(3) as any delay could adversely
affect the execution of the County Council's
responsibilities.  The reason for this
was set out in the report.