I cycled up the Lea Valley Navigation today to the Edmonton Incinerator in Enfield. Today is 8th Global Day of Action Against Waste Incineration . The route was pleasant from Hackney Downs, passing canel boats and wildlife. As I got nearer to the incinerator I actually failed to notice the smell coming from the incinerator. I suppose because I was cycling, I simply failed notice the stench. Also, presumably because it was gradual, the smell simply didn't register. However, as I stood outside the incinerator it became apparent very quickly that there was a smell. Before long I felt a taste on the back of my throat. If I had to describe it I would say it was mixture of turps and cheap paint. The lady who took the photograph above said that she could smell the emissions from the incinerator at her home in Chingford. This corresponds to a story I read online about cases of asthma being unusually high for a middle class ward situated downwind in Chingford. For the moment, I can't find the link for that story but there are other reports of local health being affected: Here and here. What I intend to do is ring London Eco Park (yes I know!) to ask what causes the smell. -------------------------------------------------- Tags croydon, greenparty
It is becoming increasingly apparent that the desperate leaflet distributed by the Tories resulted from these articles. They are obviously becoming alarmed that resident groups are coalescing behind the Stop the Incinerator campaign. In an effort to limit any political loss they are accusing the Green Party of scaremongering by fabricating statements which can be proven to be untrue. -------------------------------------------------- Tags croydon, greenparty
Local Greenpeace and CND activist Jim Clugston is challenged as he enters Ruskin House
Cllr Mike Moghul seems to think those attending the meeting were born yesterday
A good turnout for the first meeting. People from a wide range of backgrounds.
The panel, Becky Slater, Neil Pitcairn, Jonathan Essex, Shasha Khan, Paul Pickering (Chair).
As Paul Pickering and I approached Ruskin House - half an hour before the meeting was scheduled to start - we saw a group of men and women in sharp suits outside the main entrance to Ruskin House. I immediately clocked Cllr Jason Perry, cabinet member for Planning and Conservation, and then realised it was a group of Conservative councillors distributing their latest desperate leaflet. Cllr Mike Moghul was first to collar me as I neared the entrance . He actually started prodding me in the chest as he lectured me. The only line they could repeat was that there would be no incinerator in Croydon. Are they incapable of understanding that an incinerator a few hundred yards across the border in Sutton makes no difference. It seems everyone who entered the meeting was accosted by the Tories.
Before the meeting started Peter Hickson the Green Party candidate for Sutton and Cheam went back outside and asked the Tory mob outside Ruskin House if they would like to attend. They declined.
The meeting was excellent. Lots of good discussion about what exactly the South London Waste Plan entails and what are its implications. Jonathan Essex (Sustainable Redhill) spoke about the alternatives, Neil Pitcairn (UKWIN) about the successful campaign in Capel and Becky Slater (FoE) about the dirty truths. I spoke about the South London Waste Plan thus far and also about the politics behind the issue.
There was a passionate presentation made from the floor from Mike Dunne, Chair of Beddington Village Residents Association. He pointed out that residents he represents will struggle to ever sell their houses. There were observations made on how it is the disadvantaged that will suffer; i.e., the wards directly downwind are wards with lower levels of household income.
PRESS RELEASE – Local residents, environmentalists (1) and Green politicians join forces to form ‘Stop the Incinerator’ campaign.
Following a less than transparent South London Waste Partnership workshop on September 7th, frustrated local residents, environmentalists and politicians are pressing ahead with an anti-incinerator campaign. The official launch will be on 23rd September, 7.30pm at Ruskin House, Coombe Road, Croydon.
The campaign calls for an immediate end to the South London Waste Partnership in its present form, a zero waste strategy, a comprehensive government commissioned study identifying the health effects of incinerators, an extensive information campaign to inform people of the importance of recycling and an immediate reversal of the European Parliament’s decision to repackage incinerators as ‘energy from waste’ plants.
Chair of the organisation, local resident Paul Pickering, said:
“The numbers attending the workshop indicate that people are still unaware about the issues surrounding this critical development and the impact it will have on their lives, their health and the value of their properties.”
The newly formed anti-incinerator group will become the latest member of the UK Without Incineration Network (UKWIN) which is the umbrella group of dozens of anti-incineration groups across the country. UKWIN (2) opposes incinerators for the following reasons:
It depresses recycling and wastes resources
Releases greenhouse gases
Is often forced through against strong public opposition
Relies on exaggerating future quantities of waste instead of strongly increased recycling and composting
Creates toxic emissions and hazardous ash
Poses significant health risks
Mr Pickering continued:
“To my surprise, we have found that the government’s planned roll out of incinerators is fostering similar campaign groups across the country. We are not the only ones worried.”
Secretary for the Stop The Incinerator campaign group, the Green Party’s Shasha Khan said:
“The key consultation was the first one, which was hardly publicized, because arguably, it has given the council the ticket it needed to procure. If the Green Party had not obtained the procurement contract, the council would not have been forced to make statements about the nature of the waste plan.
Mr Khan continued:
“The authorities have confused the issue for their own gain. On the one hand the Labour government is pushing forward with a new generation of incinerators across the country but on the other, Labour councillors are claiming to be anti-incineration. Also, the Conservative council are stating that they won’t build an incinerator, yet because of European legislation, pushed through by Labour and the Tories, these incinerators will arguably be masquerading as‘energy from waste’ plants to get past local opposition.
“Given that the consultation has been a public relations masterclass that has left local people feeling uncertain, we felt it was important to start a campaign that could answer those questions that remain unanswered, based on precedents.
The campaign group’s web site can be found at www.stoptheincinerator.co.uk. There is bank of information already available on the site as well as an online petition.
The launch meeting will have guest speakers who defeated the proposed mass burn incinerator in Capel, Surrey earlier this year as well as other experts on this issue.
I have made a complaint to the Met Police about the line, "Labour and the Green Party are deliberately scaremongering by pretending there is a plan to have an incinerator in Croydon at Factory Lane." The Green Party have never stated on a leaflet, press release, letter or even blogpost that there would be an incinerator in Factory Lane. We've always maintained that the most plausible location for the incinerator is Beddington Lane in Sutton. Every communication which discusses location states this. In an act of desperation the Tories have come out with this line to discredit the Green Party and the new Stop The Incinerator campaign. The fact the Beddington is just over the border in Sutton and it will be the eastern wards in north Croydon that will be affected (they are immediately downwind) seems to be overlooked. Hence the Tories have yet to say, ".....there will not be an incinerator that will affect Croydon."
Incidentally, Labour have done all that this leaflet states.
The comment I sent to the Croydon Guardian appeared in this weeks Green Guardian -------------------------------------------------- Tags croydon, greenparty
I cycled up the Lea Valley Navigation today to the Edmonton Incinerator in Enfield. Today is 8th Global Day of Action Against Waste Incineration . The route was pleasant from Hackney Downs, passing canel boats and wildlife. As I got nearer to the incinerator I actually failed to notice the smell coming from the incinerator. I suppose because I was cycling, I simply failed notice the stench. Also, presumably because it was gradual, the smell simply didn't register. However, as I stood outside the incinerator it became apparent very quickly that there was a smell. Before long I felt a taste on the back of my throat. If I had to describe it I would say it was mixture of turps and cheap paint. The lady who took the photograph above said that she could smell the emissions from the incinerator at her home in Chingford. This corresponds to a story I read online about cases of asthma being unusually high for a middle class ward situated downwind in Chingford. For the moment, I can't find the link for that story but there are other reports of local health being affected: Here and here. What I intend to do is ring London Eco Park (yes I know!) to ask what causes the smell.
