Wanting free waste disposal to continue is a "disgrace"

Tuesday 24 January 2017

Expecting to go on having free waste disposal has been described as a "disgrace" in the ongoing court battle between St Helier and the States over an old legal agreement.

In 1952, St Helier struck a deal – known as the Bellozanne Covenant – whereby it sold land at Bellozanne to the States to build a waste incinerator. In exchange, it was agreed parishioners of St Helier wouldn’t have to pay for getting rid of their rubbish.

But last September, a three-day court case brought against the parish of St Helier ended in victory for the States, effectively tearing up that agreement and so paving the way for Ministers' new commercial waste charge.

Yesterday, St Helier appealed that decision in the Royal Court. 

A three-man court presided over by James McNeill QC heard submissions from counsel for the appellant, Nick Williams (representing Simon Crowcroft, Constable of St Helier), while the States were represented by Solicitor General Mark Temple QC.

Mr Williams addressed the court first, arguing on several points that the Bellozanne Covenant remains in force. Primary among them that not only was there no limit of time on the contract signed in 1952, but that it was liberally sprinkled with the phrase ‘in perpetuity’ as to its length. “The parties were trying to create a position not only for themselves, but those generations following on,” he said.

“There is no ‘express temporal limitation’” in the contract, continued Advocate Williams, thus making it “perpetual in nature” as far as the appellants were concerned.

A new incineration and sewage treatment plant earmarked for development near the Bellozanne site at a combined cost of nearly £183 million was due to begin in Autumn 2016 and this is where the Solicitor General opened his argument, pointing out that: “The cost of not being able to levy the charge would be injurious to the construction of the new site.”

The Solicitor General argued that while many parts of the contract mentioned ‘in perpetuity’, there were many that did not, and that he found it stretched the levels of credibility – and social harmony – for residents and businesses of St Helier to expect to pay nothing for waste disposal forever. 

Mr Williams addressed the court after lunch and pointed out that new facilities were constructed on the site in 1994, yet the contract from 1952 remained untouched, he insisted that there was: “no indication that [the contract] was ‘a mistake’ and that no attempt had been made to have the original contract set aside before now."

But the Solicitor General described those residents and businesses of St Helier who think they can have their waste disposed of for free indefinitely as "sitting on their hands" and called it “a disgrace."

The court will deliver its judgement soon.