April 21, 2008 @ 6:09 pm
North London Waste Plan: Residents meeting
On 15 April 2008 a group of BAG members and local residents met at Blackhorse Lane Baptist Church to discuss issues arising from the North London Waste Plan (NLWP) Issues and Options report with two representatives from NLWP (Archie Onslow, Project Manager and Neil from CAG Consultants) and Judith Carlsson (Regeneration Manager, Borough of Waltham Forest. This meeting was part of the first consultation stage for the NLWP.
The meeting started with a short presentation by Archie Onslow, explaining the issues involved. The NLWP will provide a planning framework to identify sites suitable for waste processing facilities (of industrial as well as household waste). North London, will, in future, have to make provision for processing a higher percentage than previously of the waste produced in the seven boroughs that now constitute the North London Waste Authority.
The tonnage of waste each borough has been allocated by the Mayor is called “apportionment”. This is the minimum quantity of waste each waste authority has to process within its own boundaries. To process the waste tonnage set by the apportionment for north London will require around an extra 9 hectares of land for the accommodation of new waste processing facilities. Beyond that, it is deemed desirable that London boroughs work towards increasing self-sufficiency in waste processing. To achieve self sufficiency for the six north London boroughs of the NLWP would require an extra 24 hectares of land (1 hectare = the size of one football pitch).
The report outlines the issues and options involved in dealing with the challenges presented by the need for increased waste processing facilities in north London. In this context, the report lists six locations that have been identified as suitable for the siting of new waste processing facilities in north London. Three of these sites are in Waltham Forest (one at Blackhorse Road), two in Enfield, and one in Barnet.
Local residents expressed their extreme concern over the suitability of the locations listed in the report and the effect pollution from waste processing facilities will have on residents’ health and quality of life in the adjacent residential areas. It appeared to us that research data relating to these issues are rather scant. Furthermore, is there any legal provision defining the minimum distance waste processing facilities have to be sited from residential properties?
Some of the other issues raised concerned:
The fact that the boroughs Waltham Forest and Enfield are already accommodating most of north London’s waste processing facilities, allowing boroughs such as Barnet to offload the problem almost entirely outside of their own area.
The effect increased traffic caused by trucks transporting waste to and from these plants will have on the local environment.
The lack of cohesion in the Council’s planning policy as far as the future of the Blackhorse Lane area is concerned: intending to place quality housing, shops and cafés in close proximity to a waste processing plant.
In summary, local residents expressed severe discontent over the fact that north London’s waste processing problem will be solved largely at the expense of poorer boroughs such as Walthamstow, which are already “hosts” to most of this area’s waste processing facilities.
Links:
North London Waste Plan website
Greenpeace Incinerator buster kit for residents opposed to plans for incinerators in their area. This relates to a year 2000 court case over plans to site Europes largest incinerator in Edmonton as well as GP activists taken to court for protesting at the site.
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