Environment & Sustainability

The Mayor of London has selected a preferred pathway to net zero - the Accelerated Green pathway. Amongst other things, achieving this will require a nearly 40 per cent reduction in the total heat demand of our buildings, 2.2 million heat pumps, 460,000 buildings connected to district heating, a 27 per cent reduction in car vehicle km travelled by 2030.

Opponents of the planned new Edmonton Incinerator have taken the first step in seeking a judicial review of the North London Waste Authority's decision to sign a contract for its construction. A crowdfunder has been set up to raise money to cover legal costs. A consultation leaflet issued by the NLWA in 2014 makes no reference to incineration, greenhouse gas emissions or the fact that the incinerator would be burning recyclable materials.

It's been a busy week for opponents of north London's planned new mega-incinerator. An estimated 600 protesters marched in Edmonton on Sunday and opposition councillors in some of the seven boroughs represented on the North London Waste Authority (NLWA) have been trying to persuade their colleagues to call for a pause and review of the project, on environmental, health and financial grounds.

In the light of the new Edmonton incinerator, which if it gets built will need to be fed with large quantities of 'waste' for several decades, here are two videos about why we need to transition to a circular economy - in very contrasting styles (the first includes some strong language), but essentially telling the same story.

With only four days to go before the contract to build the new Edmonton Incinerator is due to be signed, councillors from the Green Party and Liberal Democrats have criticised the Mayor of Enfield, accusing him of unnecessarily delaying the date of a council meeting to discuss the contract, meaning that it will take place too late to stop contract signature. Meanwhile, the broadbased coalition which unites members of more than 50 campaign groups and opposes the new incinerator is making preparations for what is likely to be the biggest protest yet, a family-friendly march on Sunday afternoon from Edmonton Green to the misleadingly named 'Eco Park' along the North Circular Road.

A Green Party councillor has written to the council's most senior officers warning that proceeding with the planned signature on 18th January of a contract to build the new Edmonton Incinerator would expose the local authority to severe financial risks. He urges them to take steps to withdraw the London Borough of Enfield's support from the scheduled signing of the contract between the North London Waste Authority (NLWA) and the Spanish contractor Acciona.

Campaigners concerned about the environmental, health and financial consequences of building a new Edmonton Incinerator are appealing to residents to write urgently to the Mayor of Enfield asking him to convene an extraordinary council meeting in time to block a contract for construction of the new facility.

To nobody's great surprise, but to many people's great disappointment, at their meeting on 16th December the North London Waste Authority gave the go-ahead for the award of a contract to build a new and larger incinerator at the Edmonton 'Eco-Park'. True to form, the eloquent and well argued calls for a 'pause and review' of the project were brushed aside or simply ignored and north London's very poor recycling figures were blamed on its residents rather than on the failures of the waste authority and the seven borough councils.

Against the background of growing opposition to the Edmonton Incinerator project, MPs have called for a halt to incinerator construction and singled out major issues with the Edmonton proposals

Environmental campaigners opposed to the construction of a new waste incinerator in Edmonton have this week been pulling out all stops in the final days before the board members of the North London Waste Authority - all of them councillors from north London boroughs, including Enfield - convene to debate the main agenda item - signature of a contract with the Spanish firm Acciona to build the new facility.