Essex CC is drawing down £13m of reserves to fund an ongoing legal dispute over a failed waste scheme.The county council is owed around £36m after the court ruled it could terminate its contract with UBB Waste Essex – formed by Urbaser and Balfour Beatty.

The local authority started legal proceedings in 2017 after it claimed the 417,000 tonne waste processing plant at Basildon was not built correctly. Following the court ruling in the council's favour last year UBB Waste Essex went into administration shortly afterwards.