The decision as to whether Real Ventures Ltd will obtain an extension to their preferred bidder status will be decided by Isle of Wight council (IWC) Cabinet members next week.
Real Ventures Ltd were first given preferred bidder status back in 2010 to purchase the Stag Lane tip site from the council and run a bio-mass plant there, fighting off competition from two other bidders.
Already had two extensions
As reported through OnTheWight at the time, the preferred bidder option was then extended for 15 months in 2011 and then a further 12 months in 2012 (read the full background).
Real Ventures are once again – through a request sent to the IWC in June – requesting their preferred bidder status be extended, still with no planning application in sight.
According to the Cabinet paper (embedded below for your convenience), they say they need to extend it for a “further period of 12 months so it is able to complete the detailed investigations required for it to submit a planning application”.
Call-in disapplied
At last night’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting, the chair, Cllr Geoff Lumley, confirmed he’d been asked by the council to disapply a call-in on any decision made at next week’s Cabinet meeting on the issue.
He has agreed, reluctantly, given the urgency of the matter as the current extension runs out on 31 July.
Options put before Cabinet
Cabinet members have been provided with the following options to consider, none of which have been put forward as a recommendation (from memory, this is unusual in a Cabinet paper):
- Extend the preferred bidder status timescale for a further 12 months.
- Require Renewable Ventures to submit a planning application before any further extensions of time are considered.
- Give further consideration to the future use of the site before any further works are undertaken with regard to its disposal.
- Remarket the site on the same basis as in 2010.
- Not extend the preferred bidder status timescale.
Petition calling for public consultation
On Monday morning, a group calling themselves Wight Biomess will be presenting the Cabinet member for Sustainability, Cllr Luisa Hillard, with a 1,000 signature petition requesting the council “open an inclusive, Island-wide Consultation on these proposals, over and above the normal planning application consultation”.
Once again, OnTheWight will be Tweeting live from the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday (9th July) which starts at 6.30pm and to which members of the public are invited to attend.
The paper is embedded below for your convenience.
