OXFORDSHIRE’S controversial rubbish incinerator will cost taxpayers about two-thirds of a billion pounds, the Oxford Mail can reveal.

And the likely delay of 12 months to the project, following the rejection of planning permission to build an incinerator at Ardley, near Bicester, is going to add more than £10m to the bill if it goes ahead.

The Oxford Mail has obtained a confidential Oxfordshire County Council document setting out the forecast costs of the incinerator, which would deal with 300,000 tonnes of non-recycled rubbish a year.

A potential two-year delay, would call into question the scheme’s affordability against what the county believes is value for money.

Last month the county’s cabinet chose Viridor as its preferred bidder to build and run the facility for the next 25 years.

But the scheme was dealt a blow on Monday when the county’s planning committee rejected the Viridor application because it breached Cherwell District Council’s local plan .

The secret report puts the cost of Viridor’s bid, the cost to the council of picking up the rates bill of tens of million of pounds, and the cost of waste haulage to the site at £651m.

The costs of delays would then be on top.

While a two-year delay would take the final forecast close to the threshold of the council’s value-for-money figure, there would be income of several million pounds earned through things like the generation of electricity offsetting that.

The report forecasts that it would cost £621m to continue sending the county’s rubbish to landfill, but this is not strictly comparable because it does not factor in the likely costs of a rise in waste because of population increases, rises in landfill tax and other economic factors.

The contract has not yet been signed with Viridor.

Last night Huw Jones, the council’s director for environment and economy, said the report’s figures were likely to change. He added: “We do expect there to be significant third party income available from the sale of electricity and other options.”

Yesterday the council said it was committed to continuing to push through the scheme, with an appeal against the planning permission refusal likely.

People in Ardley have been campaigning against the incinerator and Jon O’Neill, chairman of the local protest group, said: “It would be naive to think that such a project would not be expensive, however it does seem an awful lot of money.”

County leader Keith Mitchell said: “We remain in the final stages of the current procurement process and this week’s planning decision does not alter this.”

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