Thousands raised to launch legal bid to stop one of UK's biggest incinerators being built in London

The Stop the Edmonton Incinerator campaign raised their initial target of £10,000 in less than two weeks to launch a legal bid to thwart the project.
Louise Krzan
Bonnie Christian20 August 2019

Campaigners have raised more than £10,000 to launch a legal bid to stop one of the UK’s largest incinerators being built in north London.

Carina Millstone, who is spearheading the campaign, fears the £650 million Edmonton incinerator, designed to burn all of north London’s non-recyclable waste, will contribute to climate change, add to the capital's pollution levels and become obsolete before the end of its operational life.

The current plant, which when built in 1969 was the UK’s biggest, got the green light for an upgrade in 2017 by former Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Greg Clark MP.

But, Ms Millstone, who is a representative of the group Stop the Edmonton Incinerator Rebuild (SEIR), has argued attitudes towards the environment have changed “significantly” since then and is calling for a review of his decision.

Representative for the Stop the Edmonton Incinerator campaign group Carina Millstone says the project upgrade is "reckless and ruthless."
Louise Krzan

Mr Clark rejected the request on the grounds the circumstances “were not exceptional enough to warrant a review”.

SEIR is now preparing to launch a legal challenge to block the rebuild.

“We know we have 18 months pretty much to change the course we're going in (towards global heating), we know we are living in a climate emergency, if these are not exceptional circumstances, I'm not sure what are,” Ms Millstone said.

The North London Waste Authority, which deals with waste from seven boroughs - Hackney, Islington Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Haringey and Waltham Forest - says the new “energy recovery facility” at the current site will generate enough energy to heat 127,000 homes and save 140,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide when compared with sending waste to landfill.

It will have the capacity to deal with 700,000 tonnes of waste a year.

But, Ms Millstone told the Standard she believes the project is “incredibly ruthless (and) reckless” when considered in the context of new recycling targets and environmental policies, particularly the UK’s new “net zero” 2050 target.

“It's a massive misuse of public money right now to be building an infrastructure that will be producing polluting energy sources when actually we know that we're going towards a decarbonisation of the grid,” she said.

She added that as renewable energy becomes dominant and fossil fuels are phased out, the incinerators will be one of the most polluting sources of energy.

"Burning waste produces produces greenhouse gas emissions. Put simply about a ton of greenhouse gas emissions for every ton wasted," she said.

Ms Millstone added that increased recycling targets could also make the plant obsolete.

Carina Millstone said its "irresponsible" to upgrade the facility nearby to "dozens of schools" without long term health studies.
Louise Krzan

She claimed the new incinerator was modelled on a 50 percent recycling rate while new legal requirements call for a 65 percent recycling rate by 2030.

“The mayor has signed up to 70 percent recycling rate,” she said. “So that would lead to an over capacity of the facility.”

“This is based on an incredibly low ambition for waste prevention and recycling.

“Over the lifespan of the incinerator, hopefully plastics will be banned and then they will not have enough feed stock to feed this incinerator.”

An NLWA spokeswoman told the Standard: "Even if we reach these targets there will still be non-recyclable waste which needs to be treated and it is our duty to manage this waste responsibly in the future.

"Any additional capacity beyond reaching these targets would allow us to take in non-recyclable waste from other local authorities and businesses, providing potential income from these sources for north London."

Ms Millstone also expressed fears over pollution.

“The health impacts of incinerators are still not completely settled,” Ms Millstone said.

“We know these plumes are going over dozens of primary schools, whichever way the wind blows.

“We know that particulate matter (created by incinerators), these microscopic particles are linked to loads of bad health outcomes.

“It's highly irresponsible, it's in a densely populated area."

In a statement, an NLWA spokeswoman said: "The existing plant is currently operating at 20% better than the Environment Agency’s safe standards of nitrogen oxides emissions and our new facility will perform even better at 60 percent."

She added that a Health Impact Assessment was conducted to accompany the application to upgrade the plant and it was"widely recognised these types of facilities are safe for public health".

In launching the group’s legal challenge, funded by a Crowdjustice campaign, Ms Millstone said her lawyers believe she has a strong case and the Secretary of State should have a duty of care to address her concerns.

“I'm very hopeful that a change of government provides a fresh opportunity to review this decision, very hopeful that Andrea Leadsom will be more diligent than her predecessor in this matter.”

Ms Leadsom took over the role as Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy in July and Ms Millstone said the group has reached out to speak to her about a potential review of Mr Clark’s decision.

Her office confirmed they had received and responded to a pre-action letter in relation to the project and could not comment further.

The NLWA chair, Clyde Loakes, said in a statement that it was confident legal action would not succeed.

“It has already been reported that the Government says there is no reason to reopen the permission granted for the facility," he said.

“The fact is that the facility will be a modern, efficient plant which won’t just treat waste but will use it to generate enough energy to power up to 127,000 homes.

“The replacement facility is a positive part of the action we are taking to tackle the Climate Emergency and reduce emissions, and forms an integral part of the strategy for treating north London’s waste which includes encouraging waste prevention and increased recycling.

“This is especially true as our development incorporates a dedicated centre for increasing recycled materials with a public space for people to bring items for reuse and recycling.”

Spokespersons from Islington, Camden and Hackney councils said they were in support of the facility’s upgrade.

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