Conservative party tactics exposed

My published response to Adam Kellet's letter is above (full text at the bottom of this post)

The Conservatives have resorted to dressing up their letters to the papers to make it appear that local residents feel that the Green Party is scaremongering. Adam Kellett is a Conservative candidate - something he chose not to disclose in his letter.

	2006 Elections	Norbury ward
	Labour	Maggie Mansell	2,434
	Labour	Shafi Khan	2,428
	Labour	Sherwan Chowdhury	2,333
	Conservative	Gloria Hutchens	1,751
	Conservative	Tirena Gunter	1,679
	Conservative	Adam Kellett	1,557
	Liberal Democrat	Leo Held	553
	Green	Michael O'Sullivan	511
Turnout			4,784	43.6%

10.11.09

Dear Editor,

The Conservative member Adam Kellett and I campaigned with other local residents to stop a development on Rylands Field back in 2004. Back then he recognised the link between environment and health. Regrettably, his letter regarding Croydon Council’s position on incineration is the real example of partisan electioneering.

Whilst this Conservative Council may well promise not to build an incinerator in Croydon, there are three arguments that suggest this position is false.

Firstly, whilst Labour has publically stated the location for the incinerator is Factory Lane, the Green Party has always maintained that the most plausible location for the incinerator is Beddington Lane. This is because the sewage works will be able to treat the toxic sludge that remains in the flue. Incidentally, Sutton Council has now stated that this is their preferred site, too. Beddington is just across the border which means Croydon will receive the harmful emissions from the incinerator.

Secondly, the technologies that are being touted to handle waste Londonwide are pyrolysis and gasification. These are discussed in the latest London Assembly report. In Europe the sites that burn waste using these technologies are known as Pyrolysis incinerators and Gasification incinerators. This may explain why the procurement contract which has been sent all across the European Union by Croydon council, calls for bids for ‘refuse incinerator construction’. Somehow in the UK the word incinerator has been deleted when describing these technologies publically.

Finally, what is worrying is that Labour, Conservative and the Lib Dems allow the market to dictate solutions on all manner of issues. Waste contractors are eager to incinerate hazardous waste and clinical waste in large scale sites because it fetches the highest price. However, market solutions do not consider environmental and social costs.

That is why the Green Party calls for a zero waste principle. It might not be achievable, but coupled with a comprehensive strategy to reduce, reuse, recycle and compost you eliminate the need to incinerate.

Yours sincerely,

Shasha Khan

Croydon Green Party

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Tags croydon, greenparty