Looming very large for us all now are the final stages of the North London Waste
Plan (NLWP). The plan is of huge significance, because it puts Pinkham Wood
forward as suitable and necessary for handling waste.
We all know that
the site is not suitable. Waste projections for London suggest that the massive
facility intended for the site isn’t necessary. In fact, it may require waste
from outside the capital to make it financially viable for the contractor that
runs it.
We submitted strong objections last summer in a Pinkham Way
Alliance response to the NLWP consultation, which ended on 8 July 2011. Over 850
of us put our name to the objections, with some making individual
submissions.
The NLWP was submitted to the Secretary of State on 28
February 2012. An independent inspector has been appointed, who will examine the
plan in public (EiP) for two weeks from 11 June 2012. In the
run up to this, on 12 April, his 'pre-hearing meeting' will
determine an exact agenda for the June fortnight.
This hearing may
well give us the best chance of stopping these plans that we’ll get. If we
don't make our case in the best possible way, the NLWP will be free to defend a
plan that does not stack up and which could have a disastrous impact on this
part of North London for generations.
Weeks of unpaid preparation by
local experts are already underway, and these people wouldn’t be involved if
they didn’t think we had strong arguments. But we estimate a need for
around £35,000 to pay for the necessary professionals to add vital
knowledge, and present it for us at the NLWP hearing in June.
Central to
this will be our excellent planning consultant from the Core Strategy hearing.
However, the NLWP will require much more of his time than the Core Strategy
hearing did, and therefore cost more.
This is a lot of money to raise in
a short space of time. Many thousands of fundraising leaflets are about to be
delivered – thank you so much to all of you helping with this. Let’s all use
word of mouth and our local networks to let everyone know how important it is
that we raise this money.
Please donate – every penny will make a difference. The NLWP is much
larger than the local issues we’ve fought on so far, and the opposition will be
very well funded. We know we have a strong case to argue; it would be a real
shame to have got this far only to fade away due to lack of money.
No
one is going to fight this battle for us. We have been left, as a community, to
do it ourselves.
Our website has more details on the North London Waste Plan.
Just a quick
reminder that you can visit our website for details of how to lobby candidates for the London
Assembly.
Bidesh
Sarkar
Chair
Pinkham
Way Alliance
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