CONTRACT details for a controversial £500m incinerator project have been revealed thanks to a council IT error.

The hidden details of the application for the Javelin Park incinerator project near Stroud were accidently revealed as part of a Freedom of Information request.

The Urbaser Balfour Beatty (UBB) contract was released under FOI rules on Gloucestershire County Council's (GCC) website but parts deemed commercially sensitive were redacted.

However, the blacked out details could be seen when copying and pasting it all into a word processing document.

This comes after the council has spent nearly £200,000 at the High Court to block any attempt to reveal the details.

County councillor Sarah Lunnon (Green, Stroud Central), said: “This information should never have been withheld, but to do it in such a slap-dash manner points to a critical lack of staff and security at Shire Hall.

“There is a fundamentally simple issue of natural justice here: those who have no choice but to pay the invoice should be allowed to see the itemised bill.

“Transparency and accountability are essential components of local government and other public bodies.”

Stroud District councillor Simon Pickering (Green, Stroud Slade), said: “This is really rather serious, in the county which is home to GCHQ and wants to develop its IT security economy it seems almost unbelievable that such an error should be made.”

A spokesman for GCC said: “There is an ongoing investigation into how this happened.

“The council has already released over 95 per cent of the contract, some commercial information needs to remain confidential so we can get the best prices for taxpayers in the future.”

Stroud Green Party members submitted a flurry of FoI requests in 2013 to see the full business details between GCC and the applicants, with the proposal having been approved on appeal in 2015.

The faulty document, which had attempted to black out details such as costs and savings despite orders from the Information Commissioner to reveal all information, has since been replaced.

In 2015 GCC’s decision to redact this information was overruled by the Information Commissioner - who oversees FOI disputes – stating: “Public authorities must be able to demonstrate the causal link between any such affect and the disclosure of the specific information.

“No precise examples have been provided of how the release of the specific information would result in the effect claimed.”

GCC is currently appealing this decision, claiming the business details are private and that revealing them would make for poor confidentiality practice, that it would expose UBB to other market competitors and affect future contract applications.

The facility is expected to open in 2019.