What I wish for in Croydon

Croydon Advertiser 30th December 2011

"I hope job losses are kept to a minimum and that , instead of negative virals*, we get positive news items coming from Croydon.

"As a Croydon Athletic season ticket holder, I also hope a new club can be formed that bring back the good old days, a club serving the community that is on a good financial standing. "

*riots and my tram experience

What else I wish for (that didn't get published):

• An excellent result for Gordon Ross in the GLA's, easily saving the deposit and closing in on third place.
• And personally, my push bike remaining well serviced throughout the year. I can go much faster, from A to B, after a service.
  

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Tags croydon, greenparty

The political power hierarchy for the waste incinerator

Outside the recent Sutton Executive meeting

Duncan Clarke - South London Waste Plan Project manager

Frank Smith - Director of the South London Waste Partnership

Whilst departing the Sutton Civic offices, after the protest at the Executive meeting, we bumped into South London Waste Plan Project Manager, Duncan Clarke, and Darren Edwards, Environment officer on Sutton Council. They were talking in the corridor outside the meeting. Probably for the first time throughout this whole sham consultation process we were able to get some answers from those who possessed them. For the passed three years, the individuals responding to our challenges have been councillors. I am sure the councillors would concede they are being kept in the dark, simply taking advice from council officers when required to comment.

Therefore, it is important for residents in the four boroughs of Sutton, Kingston, Merton and Croydon to recognise who the drivers at the wheel of this waste incinerator juggernaut are.

The South London Waste Partnership have consistently used terms like "protect" and "safeguard" in their communications about the purpose of the Plan (see notes below) .

All along we have been told that the South Waste Plan is there to guide the four councils, and that the four councils were "technology neutral.

This is why it is astonishing that the individual conveying the arguments for incineration in the recent two page special in the Advertiser is the Director of the South London Waste Partnership, Frank Smith.

Maybe we shouldn't be surprised, there is a distinct overlap between waste companies and the SLWP. The previous SLWP Project Manager, Emma Smyth, is now working for waste company SITA.

All this brings me to Table 1: I have knocked up this political power hierarchy based on the above observations. The waste hierarchy is forever being used by the SLWP to give an environmental best practice sheen to the waste incinerator, so I thought it appropriate to produce a comparative table.


Notes:

"The South London Waste Plan contains policies to guide the determination of planning applications for waste management facilities and identifies existing waste sites to be safeguarded and areas where waste management development may be suitable" - taken from SLWP web site

"The South London Waste Plan protects the Council when planning applications are sent in by waste companies." Darren Edwards, Sutton Council Environment officer

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Tags croydon, greenparty

Saima Raza's letter in the local papers

From Croydon Guardian - Nov 30th 2011


Our local party continues to grow at a great pace. One of our newest members Saima Raza (above) had a letter published on fuel poverty in both the Croydon Advertiser and Croydon Guardian.

23.11.11

Dear Editor,

The combination of the dire economic outlook and energy prices hikes, it does not bode well for Croydon or the whole of Britain for that matter. A recent found almost 21,800 persons in England (over-65) passed away as a result of ‘adverse conditions’, these so-called ‘winter deaths’ occurred across just four months between December 2010 and March 2011. People are having to make dire choices between staying warm or staying full, a sacrifice that no one ought to be subjected to. London is not short of initiatives to alleviate fuel poverty, ranging from promoting a low carbon economy, to home insulation to energy saving schemes. The Rural Services Network (2010) found there were 133,287 households in Croydon alone living in fuel poverty, as one of the more densely populated boroughs of London this constitutes almost 10% of all households.

Energy companies intent on putting prices up are undermining efforts by people to lift themselves out of fuel poverty. Croydon residents need to ensure Croydon Council makes good on their fuel poverty alleviation pledges by working to reduce carbon emissions and live up to the ‘Keep Croydon Warm’ scheme which offers free home insulation measures to improve energy efficiency for certain residents. With fossil fuels diminishing, an investment in energy efficiency and renewables will create jobs and help boost the economy.

Yours sincerely

Saima Raza

Croydon Green Party

She also has written pieces for various newspapers around the world:

The Coming Tide,

Analysis: A New Kind of Uprising

Humanitarian Intervention

Welcome Saima!

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Tags croydon, greenparty

TWO PAGE INCINERATOR SPECIAL

Croydon Advertiser - December 23rd

Full marks go to David Churchill for his two page report on the incinerator. PROPOSED BY VIRIDOR - THE SUCCESSFUL CONTRACTOR - IT HAS FINALLY BEEN REVEALED THAT A 275,000 TONNES ENERGY FROM WASTE INCINERATOR IS PLANNED FOR BEDDINGTON LANE.

This is a complicated issue but his piece is easy to read and understand. It's available online here and here.

I was asked to provide 250 words 'against the incinerator'. It wasn't easy because the various points need detailed explanation.
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Tags croydon, greenparty

Newspaper report on Sutton Council demo

From Sutton Guardian Wednesday 14th December

Campaigners fighting plans for a waste facility in Beddington continued their protests against the councils involved. Campaign group 'Stop the Incinerator' protested at a Sutton Council executive meeting on Monday night, as councillors voted through a planning brief which would allow the facility to be built in Beddington.

South London Waste Partnership is expected to soon unveil plans to build a major waste management facility, including an incinerator, in Beddington Lane.

It is understood the facility could not only burn rubbish from the four boroughs, but from further afield. Campaigners told the meeting they had concerns the centre was one of the most harmful energy-from-waste facilities for the environment that existed.

Jim Duffy, from the campaign group, said evidence also showed incineration reduced recycling rates as paper was needed to keep an incinerator burning a high level. They also raised concerns radioactive and harmful waste could also be burned at the facility.

Outside the Sutton Civic Offices on Monday, and during the meeting, protestors carried banners and taped money across their mouths. Waddon resident Dave Pettener said the money symbolised how democracy was being gagged as residents concerns were dwarfed by the demands of big business in the £1bn waste deal.

Leader of Croydon Green party Shasha Khan said: "Social and environmental costs have to be given preference over the bottom line."

The protestors were told by council bosses the planning brief safeguarded both the environment and residents, and did not mean a facility was definitely going to be built.

Councillor Sean Brennan said: "Since 1986 we have been at the cutting edge of environmental issues. We will not relinquish that lightly."

The protestors action at the meeting followed Mr Pettener and Mr Khan handcuffing themselves to council chamber railings at a meeting of a Croydon Council Overview and Scrutiny Committee on December 6, when it went into private session to discuss documents, believed to be the plans for a new waste facility site in Beddington Lane.
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Tags croydon, greenparty