READERS may be interested in my views when I attended a meeting at the Town Hall last Thursday to listen to councillors discuss the imminent closure of Stockton Heath recycling centre.

I was very disappointed to witness the political point scoring that went on by some councillors.

During the discussion, I was astounded to learn that the council had received 22 expressions of interest for the recycling contract but had finished up with only one tender. This set alarm bells ringing for me. It is clear that either the specification of the contract was set with an unrealistic outcome or in such a way as to favour only a limited number of contractors, especially when the winner is the very company that the council has all the carry on with over Arpley tip.

I have learned since the meeting that the current contractors, EWC, were expressly excluded from bidding. If that is the case, and there would have to be very serious reasons for this exclusion, then again it seems the process may have been disadvantaged.

I say this because contractors already providing the service are usually able to submit a competitive bid as they know the job. The councillors at the meeting finally agreed that the decision should be referred back to the executive board for further consideration. As a taxpayer, I would ask the council to re-tender the work with a specification designed to attract more bids and in such a way as to to keep all three sites open.

JOHN SIMPSON
Appleton