Enfield Councillor offers a further Pinkham Way public meeting, if people email him...

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Below is a report and comment on 
ENFIELD'S PUBLIC MEETING OF 29 MARCH:

The boss of the NLWA promotes Pinkham Way at Residents' Forum

UPDATE 31 March: Councillor offers to organise additional public meeting about the NLWA proposals - see the COMMENTS section below, after this main text.

There have also been a few 'improvements' made to this report, since first published.

First, other Residents' Forum matters, then the NLWA:

A406 Bounds Green: Full closure of the North Circular this weekend, to remove the old footbridge (then no more full closures).

Spring 2011: Opening of new Bowes Road/Wilmer Way footbridge has happened
Autumn 2011: Completion of shared cycle/footway A406 North Circular
Winter 2011: Completion of tree planting and scheme landscaping
Winter 2011/12: Resurfacing complete
Spring 2012: Completion of works at all major junctions
Spring 2012: Construction complete.

A406/A1 Henleys Corner: Started in February, but main works start in May. Completion is in December 2011.

Domestic Waste Collection: Currently targets for recycling are 40% in 2010 (will be missed), 45% in 2015, and 50% in 2020. The 'three wheeled-bin pilot' has been at 14,000 Enfield properties: Recycling was 28%, and is now 47%, with a 60% reduction in street litter. Feedback (from those who have responded) is 80%-ish positive for nearly every 'issue'. Smaller bins, or sharing with neighbours is possible. Phase Two roll-out will be by end of June, then three later phases. Recycling for flats is about to be improved, with food waste collections.

PINKHAM WAY PRESENTATION

"The NLWA is a statutory authority; current waste disposal is 40% at Edmonton incinerator, 30% to landfill [via Brent Cross/Hendon's Rail Transfer Station], and 30% recycling - which must be 50% by 2020. The Landfill Levy is increasing, and also, the EU effectively mandates food waste reductions and recycling.

"Two 'primary treatment sites' are proposed, for 'black-bag waste', both using 'Mechanical Biological Treatment': Pinkham Way, for up to 300,000 tonnes/year ("it could never be more") and a rebuilt Edmonton, for a larger quantity. The contract is for a maximum of 1.2-million-tonnes/year - but with 50% recycling [that material would be taken elsewhere], that is 600,000 tonnes/year at the two sites. There is a shortage of sites, to meet the Mayor's policy of treating waste within London.

"Separation of the 'black-bag waste' would be into:

• recyclables - mainly metals, 
• food waste - leading to composting, or to 'anaerobic digestion' (AD), and 
• residuals - paper, plastic, ...

If AD were chosen, there would be methane produced, probably for 'immediate' burning on site for electricity, and only 'minor' storage to even out production rates, and stored in the centre of the site.

"The residual waste (and any solid residue of AD) is called [or rather, would be processed into] 'solid recovered fuel', which would be shipped elsewhere [assumed to be Brent Cross, from both sites].

"Pinkham Way would be on-stream in 2016. This would be a 'flag-ship contract' of 'exemplary standards'. The planning application is likely to submitted at the end of May.  It would include a 'transport assessment', and there would be some 'natural' phasing of lorry traffic, with dustcart lorry peaks in late morning and mid-afternoon.

"Not all dustcarts would go to Pinkham Way and Edmonton. There would likely be two extra delivery points, Islington [presumably Hornsey] and Hendon [Brent Cross].

"Thank you and Good-night."

Run for the door (not really).

[A longer presentation, display boards, and a slide-show didn't happen, because of shortage of time - not the NLWA's fault, though.]


Questions were generally hostile, about need, location, congestion, fumes, noise, danger, smells, ... (One single opinion, though, was: "Get on with it.")

Extra one-to-one questioning at the back, afterwards (but no notes taken, so from memory):

[Regarding the two extra 'delivery points': Hornsey was publicly known about; Brent Cross, for this purpose, is something new; both sites would take untreated waste from dustcarts, and use bigger lorries to take it to (presumably) Pinkham Way.]

"Roughly, TWO dustcarts, of 10-tonnes load, result in ONE big lorry, of 20-tonnes." (A Councillor had asked earlier about electric vehicles: "Anything is possible, but they are 'very likely' [implied anyway] to all use diesel engines, for large lorries, in this timescale. Powering dustcarts and recycling lorries is up to the boroughs.")

"Cannot just muddle through" - new methods and contracts "essential", because cost of Landfill Levy will be too great [politically, and then in the media]. No expectation of any willingness of the public to recycle much above 50%, or real changes in world manufacturing methods(!), so moving towards 'zero waste' cannot be assumed, and it would be too risky not to "plan for achieveable targets".

[Here is one of many short explanations of 'Zero Waste' - from 2009 in Wales. The NLWA knew about Scotland's target of 5% landfill by 2025, with seemingly little or no extra incineration.]

"The NLWA favours 'energy recovery' from residual waste, not just organic waste."

[The Authority is saying: incineration replaces landfill - blah! However, the community campaigns across the UK, against new-style incinerators, are increasing - see the national web site UKWIN, and the international GAIA site. The NLWA has a history of mass-burn incineration, so maybe culturally it is drawn towards waste from all the seven boroughs becoming incinerator fuel, and therefore 'requires' Pinkham Way to be built. On the other hand, WEST London is about 18-months behind NORTH London, and its policies seem more open to debate - see a recently-started community website there.]

[Failed to ask about what SORT of processing might happen at Pinkham Way, to produce the 'solid recovered fuel'. The Brent Cross developers, if waste processing happens there, have previously called the process:

"more cooking than incinerating"

and 700degC has been mentioned for possible plants there. On the other hand, the property company Hammerson is better at running Brent Cross shopping centre, than knowing much about waste plants. Or traffic predictions, if the shopping centre doubles in size.]

"No knowledge of how 'wide-scale' the transport assessment would be." [To the west for instance, would it be just to Colney Hatch Lane, or to Brent Cross / Staples Corner / A5 Edgware Road? ("Don't know.") And would it include the considerable number of Edmonton 'incinerator fuel' delivery lorries, as through-traffic, merely going PAST Pinkham Way to Brent Cross? ("No, the transport assessment would not include those.") The more junior sidekick/PR minder emerged, and started taking notes, and merely said in an unfriendly manner, "statutory requirements would be met" - not a great contribution to make. Maybe it had been a long day.]

Please email any additions/corrections to the above to pinkhamway@gmail.com

Or simply add comments below, whether you were there or not.