Tuesday 13 September: Enfield Council Area Forum

Bowes, Palmers Green and Southgate Green Area Forum 

Tuesday, 13th September, 2011, 7.30pm

Bowes Church, Palmerston Road, N22 8RA

(picture: Christine Matthews)

Items on the agenda include:

1. Pinkham Way waste processing development
2. Southgate Town Hall redevelopment proposals
3. Notting Hill Housing Trust building and refurbishment plans
4. The August riots/disturbances: an invitation has been extended to Superintendent David Tucker.

Pinkham Way application on hold
Tuesday 19 July 2011

The submission of a plan to build a waste processing plant in Pinkham Way has been put on hold, following intervention by Haringey Council. Haringey Council has lobbied the North London Waste Authority about the lack of detail in its current proposals.

The council also argued for consultation on the plan to happen once an independent planning inspector has tested the detail of the wide-ranging waste plan for north London.

The NLWA has agreed to the council’s demands, which will see them now submit a detailed planning application for consultation with residents, and consideration by the council’s planning committee after the inspector reports in April 2012.

Councillor Alan Strickland, Cabinet Member for Economic Development and Social Inclusion, Haringey Council has promised to hold a far-reaching and thorough consultation programme, once the planning application has been validated and lodged. He said: 

“We’re determined to ensure we have a fair, open and transparent process, based on good quality information. We’re pleased the NLWA has responded to our lobbying on this.


We’ll run an extended consultation with exhibitions and public forums in Haringey, Enfield and Barnet to make sure everyone is fully informed. I’ll be working closely with all councillors to make sure residents are kept up-to-date with what's being proposed, and I will ensure that all voices are heard.”

The full agenda is here.

"Who chairs the meetings?

They are always chaired by a local Ward Councillor.

What gets discussed?

Councillors and local public bodies inform and consult on local issues including those raised in previous Forums. You have an opportunity to speak to them on issues related to improving your local area.

How many people attend?

On average 20 - 25 people attend each Area Forum. However, meetings of up to 60 people are not uncommon - the more the merrier.

Do the make a difference?

They can make a very real difference. All manner of local concerns on issues ranging from traffic lights to pot holes have been addressed over the last few years as a direct result of being raised in an Area Forum.

Why do your Councillors think Area Forums are important?

'This is a good opportunity to meet your Councillors and raise issues directly with them. I value the opportunity offered by the forums, as one way to get resident feedback and help me take up the issues that really matter to local people.'

'The Forum is a great opportunity to hear residents' views, and for them to get straight answers from Councillors and Council Officers. I've lost count of the number of local issues that have been raised, and successfully resolved, through my own Forum.'

So come along and get your voice heard. For further details please call Democratic Services on 020 8379 5119 or email: democracy@enfield.gov.uk."

Councillors for these wards are:

• Alan Barker   
• Yasemin Brett   
• Bambos Charalambous   
• Christopher Cole   
• Achilleas Georgiou   
• Del Goddard   
• Henry Lamprecht   
• Alan Sitkin   
• Ann Zinkin   

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Minutes of the June 2011 meeting are here.    

Minutes of the March 2011 meeting are here, including a presentation by the North London Waste Authority:

"The North London Waste Authority (NLWA) manages the disposal of almost one million tonnes of waste every year across seven north London Boroughs – Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Hackney, Haringey, Islington and Waltham Forest.

Almost a million tonnes of waste is produced in north London every year and this figure was rising. By 2020 it is estimated that up to 44% more waste, per year, would be generated.

Currently 30% of this waste is recycled; the rest is either incinerated or goes to landfill which is both expensive and damaging to the environment.

The NLWA has recognised that it needs to deal with its waste more effectively, both from an environmental and an economic perspective; prioritising waste prevention, recycling, composting and recovery over sending waste to landfill.

In partnership with its constituent boroughs the NLWA is seeking to achieve:

• A 50% recycling and composting rate by 2020
• A reduction in the amount of waste sent to landfill to 35% (of 1995 amounts) by 2020
• Recovery of energy from 31.5% of rubbish by 2015

The NLWA is currently undertaking a competitive procurement process for waste services, which will shape the way in which they provide modern sustainable waste management solutions in the NLWA area. This procurement process includes the need for the Authority to identify and procure sites for new waste facilities within the north London area. The Former Sewage Treatment Works (Pinkham Way) Friern Barnet Treatment was identified for waste use.

The Pinkham Way site will receive and manage around a third of the waste currently produced in north London, but will be capped at 300,000 tonnes per year. The waste will generally be delivered from the collection rounds in Barnet, western Haringey and western Enfield. Waste from the other north London boroughs will be delivered to the NLWA's other sites.

A copy of the planning application will be made available on the NLWA and London Borough of Barnet's websites.

This was followed by a question and answer session:

In response to residents’ concerns in respect to possible odours and noise disturbance, David Beadle reassured attendees that the waste facility at Pinkham Way will be fully enclosed, with no sorting, recycling or treatment of waste in the open air, thereby dealing with noise and odour from operations. The buildings will be fitted with a complete air management system that includes filtration for managing odour and the site will comply with all required environmental standards.

In terms of traffic flow, a traffic assessment would be carried out. It was envisaged that the additional vehicle movements would only add a very small percentage to the number already using the road network in the area. Results of the traffic assessment would be indentified in the planning application.

In response to a query about the planning history of the proposed site, it was advised that Pinkham Way was previously used as the Friern Barnet Sewage Works in the 1960s and has remained empty and derelict since.

Further concerns were raised with regards to odour, noise and air quality. David Beadle advised that the Environment Agency and Haringey Council would regulate the operation of the site to ensure it complied with all relevant regulations. Prior to operation of the site, a range of detailed conditions would have to be agreed with Haringey Council (as the local planning authority) and a site management plan would have to be agreed with the Environment Agency. The operator would be required to comply with all these conditions."

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These NLWA minutes seem to have been massaged somewhat; our own posting at the time is here (click on the picture below).