Lobby On the Town Hall Steps

After the success of our protest on the Town Hall steps on the evening of the LBWF Cabinet Meeting two weeks ago, we will be meeting again on the Town Hall steps on Tuesday, the 14th of October, 6:30pm to lobby councillors attending the Full Council meeting.

We will be handing our statement to as many councillors as possible and alerting them to our disappointment that the Cabinet agreed to approve and adopt the revised draft of the North London Joint Waste Strategy (NLJWS) even though residents were not consulted during the course of the revision of the strategy, despite the fact that the North London Waste Authority (NLWA) had committed to consulting the public in the drafting of the North London Waste Plan (NLWP). It is now clear that the strategy is part and parcel of the plan.

There was a public consultation after the draft revised strategy was published, however this was poorly advertised (Barbara Herridge of the NLWA told RAP supporters at our recent meeting that there was a press release and two advertisements placed regarding this public consultation but couldn't confirm where they had been published) and it was documented in the report tabled at the Cabinet Meeting that the response to this consultation was poor. It is also of concern that recommendations (detailed in paragraph 5 and 6 of the NLWA’s report attached at Appendix A of agenda item 10) that had been made regarding revisions to the five proposed options for waste disposal went unheeded and as tabulated in Table 1: Features of the Five Scenarios Assessed by the SEA (the Strategic Environmental Assessment of the North London Joint Waste Strategy process), pg 16 of the pdf, pg 169 of the document, the five options remain almost entirely unchanged from the original strategy of 2004. It is evident that four of the five scenarios propose the building of a new Energy from Waste (EfW) plant. It is disappointing that the Cabinet nevertheless approved this strategy when it was already known that four of the six new waste processing sites, to process the waste of seven North London boroughs, proposed by the NLWA are either within Waltham Forest or immediately on the borough's borders. It is disappointing that the LBWF Council thereby seems to be supporting the NLWA's policy of Technology Neutral Procurement; the sites for waste processing will be purchased before it is decided (or declared) what technology will be implemented on each site.

It is disappointing that the LBWF Council appears to believe that the health of Waltham Forest residents does not need to be safeguarded. It is disappointing that the LBWF Council does not fully comprehend our community's profound hopes to see the Black Horse Lane area and Waltham Forest responsibly developed in ways that positively regenerate, encourage and enrich community, culture, environment, commerce, and employment.

Campaigning Works!

Thanks to everyone who has got stuck into the campaign so far. We had a great protest at the Waltham Forest Town Hall on Tuesday – around 30 local residents joined up with residents, families and workers at Walton House elderly people’s home who are campaigning to save their home from privatisation. It was a noisy, visual protest despite wind and rain, and we managed to collar councilors on their way in and out of the Town Hall.

With a tiny amount of money we have reached something in the region of 30,000 people with our material and had a big effect. Thousands of people in the Blackhorse Lane area now know about the plans.

We’ve spent around £200 and have raised £110 so far from donations and tins on stalls – if anyone else can put in some money at the next meeting that would be fantastic; we are also hopeful of a donation from Unison and we will still get money when we do stalls.

Most importantly cages are being rattled. Having tried to ignore us or fob us off for months, suddenly now councillors are replying to us, and both the consultants running the public ‘consultation’ and the North London Waste Authority (NLWA) want to meet with us.

We are also starting to get information that things are changing. We have been told two important things – one about the North London Waste Plan and one about the North London Joint Waste Strategy (this is the one the cabinet discussed and voted on in July and which looked like they might have agreed to expand the Edmonton incinerator).

On the North London Waste Plan – we have been told by the chair of the Environment Scrutiny Committee that they have told the NLWA that they would not support a new site at Blackhorse Lane, and that the NLWA said they probably wouldn’t be putting anything there (possibly Hendon instead). Of course we cannot trust this until we have it guaranteed in writing, but nonetheless it’s the whiff of progress.

On the North London Joint Waste Strategy – Barbara Herridge of the NLWA said to Paula on the phone on Tuesday that the document that the all the councils were sent for approval was changed by the Mayor during the consultation phase. Although the document includes a table of options, one of which, the expansion of Edmonton incinerator, is posed as the preferred option, that is then changed later in the document to say that they are not to have a preferred option, and that they are to be ‘technology neutral’. That does not mean no incineration of course, but it does mean they have not decided to expand incineration either. Then at the protest on Tuesday, Councillor Patrick Smith, a Higham Hill Ward Councillor and member of the Environment Scrutiny Sub-Committee told Frances that after the committee's meeting on the 17th of September Councillor Terry Wheeler had produced a revised statement – which might mean the same thing, or it might mean something else, but we have requested a copy of this statement.

Our meeting on Wednesday will be a chance to clarify these points with Archie Onslow from the consultants and Barbara Herridge of the NLWA, as well as to make our main points to them strenuously.

They will then leave the meeting, and we will be able to discuss where we are at as a consequence, what we need to do next, and who can volunteer to do what.

See you there, bring your neighbours!

Meeting, Wednesday, the 8th of October, 7pm at St Andrew's Church Hall

Residents Against Pollution are having a meeting on Wednesday, the 8th of October, 7pm at St Andrew's Church Hall, off St Andrew's Rd. Archie Onslow and Barbara Hedge have requested an appearance at our meeting. Archie Onslow is the Programme Manager for the North London Waste Plan (NLWP) consultation. Barbara Hedge is a member of the North London Waste Authority (NLWA) and is one of the decision makers on the plan. We have also invited the Higham Hill Ward Councillors to attend.

This is a chance to have your say!

If you are interested in participating in the campaign, or spreading the word by distributing meeting flyers to your street, workplace, sport or social club, please could you download the flyer artwork, photocopy it and distribute it. There are 3 flyers per A4 page so it should only cost you between 80p - £1.00 to flyer your street. Please check the Leafleting Petitioning page to see which streets are already covered and then please send us an Email to residentsagainstpollution@googlemail.com with the subject "Leafleting/petitioning" to let us know which street(s) you are able to cover so that we can update our records. If you are unable to download and print off the pdf template flyer, email us with your address and we will post a hardcopy to you.

SEE YOU AT THE MEETING.

Protest On The Town Hall Steps

On the evening of Tuesday, the 30th of September, a large crowd of Residents Against Pollution supporters braved the chill and gathered on the Waltham Forest Town Hall steps to voice their concerns about:

• The implications of the North London Waste Plan (NLWP) on the health of the residents of Waltham Forest.
• The lack of resident consultation on the NLWP so far.
• The fact that the LBWF Cabinet is already tabling documents on the North London Waste Strategy, about proposals for the disposal of the borough's domestic waste (Strategic Environmental Assessment and Adoption of The North London Joint Waste Strategy ) which seem to overlap the decisions being made on the North London Waste Plan and therefore residents should be consulted.
• The fact that incineration is being embraced as a safe, efficient and ready technology to dispose of waste to meet the EU Landfill Directive targets. We don't want incinerators!

We will be meeting again on the Waltham Forest Town Hall steps on Tuesday, the 14th of October, 6:30pm to lobby councillors attending the Full Council meeting.

SEE YOU THERE!