Bowes Labour representation to North London Waste Plan Hearing

Link to North London Waste Plan: Public Examination

(starting Tuesday 12 June 2012)

Representation regarding

“Main Matter 4: Sites (Policy 2)",

"Specific sites",
"Pinkham Way"

Question: "To consider the assessment of the Site, including the scoring and whether there would be conflicts with neighbouring uses, the access arrangements, visual intrusion, air quality and whether the Site would meet the tests set out in Policy 2 for non-allocated sites"

Specific focus: Air quality

Councillor Alan Sitkin,

On behalf of Bowes ward Labour Councillors (link)

"The basis for our argument as to the Plan’s lack of soundness in its current form lies in the effects of additional traffic on the North Circular Road, if the Pinkham Way facility were to be implemented.

"There are already air quality problems in the area, as indicated on http://www.londonair.org.uk/, which compiles data from the Bowes Primary School local monitoring station. Current statistics for 2012 indicate, for instance, that pollution levels this year already do not comply with the 'Government’s Air Quality Strategy Objectives', in relation to the annual mean for nitrogen oxide emissions.

"Non-compliance with this indicator, or in terms of PM10 particulate emissions, has also been observed in past years, with a certain number of days attaining 'high' pollution levels for [one or other] of these categories.

"Moreover, Parliament’s Environmental Audit Committee affirmed on 11 November 2011, in relation to these very same Government standards, [stated] that they are already:

“putting thousands of lives at risk by trying to water down EU air quality rules instead of prioritising action to cut pollution on UK roads.”

"Adding several hundred daily vehicle journeys to this stretch of the North Circular Road necessarily augments these emission levels, and endangers the health of local residents. It would also put West Enfield’s air quality performance in a state of non-compliance with European standards in this area.

Pinkham Way (next to North Circular Road)

"Note that this same problem of air quality along the North Circular applies not only if the Pinkham Way proposal goes ahead, but also if the NLWP’s current alternative, namely, adding to the volume of waste treated at the Edmonton Eco-Park, were to be implemented. This is because the route that pollution-generating waste delivery vehicles would follow to deliver the extra waste to Edmonton involves the same stretch of the North Circular Road. Indeed, adding to the number of deliveries to Edmonton would also endanger the health of residents in the Eastern part of Bowes ward.

Edmonton (next to North Circular Road)

"It is for this reason that the Bowes Labour argument has always been that neither Pinkham Way nor Edmonton are acceptable sites for expanded waste processing facilities. Moreover, choosing one or the other would be inequitable, insofar as both options create further health risks for residents living in or around Enfield, even as other boroughs that are members of the North London Waste Authority would remain exempt from such damages.

Geron Way, next to A5 Edgware Road

(part of multiple site, and can be taken
to mean 'Staples Corner' in the text)

"It is our contention that the option of locating expanded waste facilities elsewhere in NLWA member boroughs must be revisited, and that a serious disregard for Enfield residents was committed when the current shortlist of potential sites was finalized in 2009. Our understanding, for instance, is that London Borough of Barnet might have sufficient room to accommodate the new plant, if no longer at Staples Corner, then further north. This would also be compatible with the principle that all producers of waste must accept responsibilty for its treatment."

---

Bowes Labour statement, Thursday 26 April:

"WE FOUND THE EVIDENCE THAT BORIS JOHNSON HAS ALREADY SIGNALLED HIS 'ACCEPTANCE' OF PINKHAM WAY SITE A LONG TIME AGO - HOW LONG HAVE ENFIELD TORIES AND MP KNOWN?" (Link)

---

Link to "Bowes Labour at NLWP Preliminary Hearing".