IT HAS been revealed that Blaenau Gwent will take back control of Silent Valley waste services – and the company will then be wound up.

At a meeting of Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council on Thursday, February 17, councillors brought up Silent Valley as they discussed the budget for 2022/23.

Concerns had been raised that the council’s environment department budget is running at a deficit of £882,000.

Silent Valley Waste Services Limited (Silent Valley), is a company owned and controlled by the authority.

Councillors asked how taking the the waste contractor back “in house” would affect the council.

Blaenau Gwent’s chief officer for resources, Rhian Hayden told councillors that £400,000 of the £882,000 did relate to the costs of operating Silent Valley.

Cllr Hedley McCarthy said: “Can someone give an undertaking that there will be no job losses as a result of taking Silent Valley back in house?

“I particularly refer to the agency staff that are currently employed who must be feeling quite vulnerable.”

Director of regeneration and community services, Richard Crook said: “The modelling that we did in terms of the business case that was discussed last week assumed the same compliment of staff as are working at Silent Valley at present would be transferred over to front line service.”

“Whether that ties back the number of agency staff I can’t comment.”

He explained that he hadn’t seen the detail of Silent Valley’s workforce make up and how they are paying for it.

Mr Crook added that now the takeover had been agreed – work would now take place on the transfer of staff based on the business case.

The transfer of Silent Valley back into the council was treated as an exempt item and discussed in a confidential session at a special meeting of the council on Monday, February 7.

This followed debate of a damning report published by Wales auditor general Adrian Crompton, which highlighted that the council failed to establish robust and effective arrangements in its relationship with Silent Valley between 2003 and 2017.

That report is the fruit of a four-year investigation and delves back as far as the formation of the company more than 30 years ago.

Minutes from the confidential part of the meeting now made public, show that councillors agreed to bring the service back into the council and that Silent Valley as a company would be wound up.

A transition plan would be prepared by end of March 2022 to ensure, and consultants would be brought in to help work on this.

A special resolution needs to be agreed at a full council meeting to instruct the Silent Valley directors to work with the council to ensure co-operation and progress in two areas.

This is in relation to the publication of a separate Audit Wales report which is about the transfer.

During the transition period use of the company’s provisions and assets will require council agreement.

The extra costs of taking Silent Valley back in house will cost £390,000 in 2022/23 and this will rise to £673,000 in 2023/24.