The sale of the Island’s waste collectors, Amey, will not impact its public services, says the Isle of Wight Council.
Here on the Isle of Wight, Amey is contracted by the Council to deliver waste and environmental services to residents, including the weekly kerbside collections, household waste recycling centres (such as Lynnbottom Tip) and waste treatment.
The firm signed a 25-year deal with the Isle of Wight Council in 2015, after the authority’s previous contract with Biffa ended.
Amey is being sold by its Spanish parent company Ferrovial but the Island contract is 1 of 4 that will be retained and managed by a subsidiary company created just for that purpose.
An Isle of Wight Council spokesperson clarified the position and said:
“The proposal from Ferrovial is to move the whole of the Isle of Wight contract (collections, HWRCs, treatment etc) and not to subdivide it.
“The council must decide whether it supports this approach, including the new structure.
“The proposals are purely administrative and will not impact the council’s public-facing services.”
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Ferrovial bought Amey in 2003 for £80million and tried to sell it in 2018, but were unsuccessful.
The first sale attempt coincided with a legal dispute with Birmingham City Council over its £2.7billion waste contract.
The auction process restarted in August and with a potential seller found, the Isle of Wight Council’s cabinet will be asked, later in the year, to consent to the transfer of ownership and major shareholding.
According to Sky News, 2 parties, HIG Capital and Buckthorn, are vying to take over with the price tag said to be more than £300million.
Like the sale of Wightlink to that investment fund wouldn’t affect it’s service. Now we get constant delays, cancellations and price hikes. UK has been sold to the highest bidder. No point in having brexit and our independence, our country has already been sold to the rest of the world. Country is screwed, best get out whilst you can.
Where to though? As far as I can tell, it’s only this country that lets the whole world and its wife move here to settle for life. Any country worth going to, is only that way because it does not allow hordes of people to move there from other countries.
Hope the new company will sort out lynnbottom tip. Restore the opening hours to what it used to be and remove the damaging speed hump/mountain at the top of the hill.
Maybe then we can get rid of our waste more conveniently without wrecking our cars.
Been there, done that. I’ve fell foul of a number of large company buy outs where existing contracts were in place. All employees will be expected to take on the identity of the parent company, even if it is an asset stripper. Staff will be told no worries about terms and conditions and pension as TUPE will apply. That lasts until the ink has dried then the changes start with employees work schedules, tweaks to the contract to save money, maybe even employing a team just to oversee the big contracts with the sole aim of squeezing more money out of the existing contracts. Time will tell….