The Court of Appeal has dismissed a legal challenge from a community group over the awarding of the Javelin Park contract.

In its decision, handed down yesterday (November 19), the Court of Appeal refused a bid by Community R4C to appeal against the decision of the High Court, which had previously ruled against them in July.

The group argued the £600m contract was unlawfully awarded to Urbaser Balfour Beatty. They had been working on a 'cheaper, greener waste processing plant' but would not have qualified to bid for the new contract in 2016, the High Court ruled, as it was not an “economic operator”.

Now the Court of Appeal has stated the “evidence was overwhelming” that CR4C would not have been able to bid for the contract to manage the county’s waste and that there was no realistic prospect that they could persuade the appeal court to reach a different conclusion.

The council was awarded its costs of defending the High Court claim and is now in the process of recovering them from CR4C.

Cllr Nigel Moor, cabinet member for the environment, commented: “I’m really pleased the Court of Appeal has issued such a robust reasoning in its dismissal of this case.

"The comments reflect the position the council has held all along in relation to this fanciful case.

"Javelin Park disposes of the waste Gloucestershire can’t recycle cleanly and safely, whilst cutting our carbon emissions significantly. Taxpayers have been put to significant cost by this challenge – and we will take steps to recover as much of that as possible.”