Air Pollution on Pinkham Way, North Circular Road

Link above to The Guardian

"His frustrations with the Labour government over its failure to act has been compounded by the Tory-led coalition. He believes it attempted to 'mislead' the European Commission in September, on the scale of breaches on dangerous particles, known as PM10s."
 

New Green Jobs in Muswell Hill and Friern Barnet and New Southgate?

Comments on the Localism Bill

Link above to cartoonist Steve Bell at The Guardian,
or to the Minister of State here, or a critical commentary here.

Independent on Sunday: "Plastic fantastic! Carrier bags 'not eco-villains after all' "

Link to 'Independent on Sunday'

"A draft report by the Environment Agency, obtained by the 'Independent on Sunday', has found that ordinary high-density polythene (HDPE) bags used by shops are actually greener than supposedly low-impact choices."
 

Barnet opens 'Reuse Centre' in Friern Barnet (Haringey residents also welcome)

Link to 'Let's Recycle' web site

"The Centre, which will be situated at a warehouse on Queens Parade in Friern Barnet, will allow residents to donate unwanted items, which will be checked, and if necessary repaired, by staff and volunteers for resale."

(Extra comment from manager Beth Swallow: "Anyone and everyone is welcome to donate and pick up a bargain at the centre. We won’t be collecting or delivering in Haringey, as we are working in partnership with Restore Community Projects who already cover that area.")

There is the established partnership organisation in Haringey, AND AS FEATURED ON TV !

Link to web site

Barnet has reopened public consultation period

Click for consultation web site

Barnet's web site showed that consultation was only 'open' from 12 February to 16 February, for their part of the site, and was now 'closed'. So you may have missed it!

Following pressure, for at least clarification, the website now shows consultation is 'open' again, until 28 February.

(Comments submitted will have to be documented by Barnet Council in its 'Statement of Community Involvement', which is a necessary part of a large planning application.)
 

Haringey Independent: "Concerns raised about new waste plant in New Southgate"

Link to the web site

"[Local resident] Mrs Gossett expressed concerned that 560 trucks a day, going in and out of the site, would have an impact on the already-congested part of the North Circular."
 

Rumours, lorries,...

Link for details to 'Brent Cross Coalition' (bottom part of that post)

The rumour is that the Pinkham Way section of the North Circular Road will ALSO have to handle lorries from the current Edmonton incinerator site, crawling, sorry travelling, between Edmonton and Brent Cross and back. 


It is thought that the quantities of  'Solid Recovered Fuel' involved would be about twice that created by the Pinkham Way treatment plant. [Later thought to be less than twice - maybe 30-40% more than Pinkham Way.]

Pinkham Way biogas future?

Link to 'Anaerobic Digestion News' web site

"The 'Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Association' predicts that 1,000 anaerobic digestion biogas plants will be built in the next five years, at a cost of £5 billion, mostly funded by the private sector.

"We are currently way behind many of our EU counterparts when it comes to AD - it's embarrassing really. There are two main opportunities, either

• farm-scale, self-sufficient in feedstock [like on BBC's 'The Archers'], or
• commercial-scale, handling external feedstock such as food waste."

 

Wider aerial view of Pinkham Way, North Circular Road

Click above to enlarge
(with some screens, click again for full-size image)

Or see a view here, with the 
Barnet and NLWA land marked,
or click here to see all current posts.

Barnet Eye: "Barnet Council Budget Meeting : Bunfight at the KO Coral"

Link to Barnet Cabinet meeting report

"We had the usual Lynn Hillan own goal, when she announced to a hostile crowd: 

"There are places for discussion, and the cabinet is not one of them."

"I could have sworn Brian Coleman looked at me, smiled, and winked as she said it. He knew that the bloggers had their quote."

"The Spectator" - verdict on Barnet Council

"Barnet, which revealed last week that it was thinking of doing away with school crossing patrols ..., voted last year to increase its leader’s allowance by 55 per cent, to £54,000." 


(Click picture for link.)

'Anaerobic Degestion & Biogas News'

Link to the aforementioned

"Defra's Anaerobic Digestion Framework Document should agree a delivery plan for achieving the Coalition Government's commitment to a 'huge increase' in AD.

"It will also look at what barriers exist, and how these can be broken down." [Presumably anaerobically.]
 

http://content.yudu.com/Library/A1regf/ADampBiogasNewsIssue/resources/index.htm?referrerUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.yudu.com%2Fitem%2Fdetails%2F302148%2FAD---Biogas-News-Issue-5-February-2011

NLWA mustn't mix up its MBT and its BMT (as if anyone would!)

 Letsrecycle.com, from 2003:

Link above to the 2003 report

"A meeting of the North London Waste Authority (NLWA) has heard that 

Mechanical Biological Treatment (MBT) 

has limitations in its role for North London's waste, ... compared to 

Biological and Mechanical Treatment (BMT)

"Comparing the difference between MBT and BMT, the meeting heard that while MBT produces fuel pellets for recovery or landfill, BMT produces a low-grade compost. 

"The NWLA noted that MBT has a greater land-take than BMT,  but it is less expensive."
 

[Glad we've sorted that out. It was beginning to worry us.]

---

 And Letsrecycle.com, 9 February 2011:

Link to later report

"While the NLWA has stressed in the past it is technology neutral, the reference technology it used to originally secure PFI funding included delivery of:

• two MBTs, 
• a combined heat and power facility, 
• two materials recycling facilities (MRFs), 
• both composting and anaerobic digestion facilities, and 
• four new and refurbished civic amenity sites."

"The NLWA would not comment on what arrangements would be made to secure funding, as an alternative to the withdrawn PFI money." 

[So are you saying that Pinkham Way will produce fuel pellets? Don't you need a process at maybe 700decC to do that?]

Campaigning to 'Stop the new South London Incinerator'

Link above to Sarf of the River

"The only technology not on the table is an 'old fashioned mass-burn incinerator' "

NLWA Pinkham Way - Consultation Sessions

The public exhibition on

12 February (2.30pm - 7pm) and 

15 February (6pm - 8.30pm) 

will be held at

Hollickwood Primary School,

Sydney Road,Muswell Hill, N10 2NL

Directions from Muswell Hill Broadway
• Head north along Colney Hatch Lane
• Go straight across at traffic lights/Shell garage
• Turn right at Sydney Road (3rd right after lights)
• Continue along Sydney Road
• Hollickwood School is on your left just past Roman Road and Oak Avenue

Directions from A406 North Circular Road/Pinkham Way, heading east
• Exit the A406 at the Tesco Extra Supermarket (signposted 'Muswell Hill')
• Turn right at the traffic lights, crossing over the A406, heading south along Colney Hatch Lane
• Turn left at Hampden Road (1st available left after joining Colney Hatch Lane)
• Continue to the end of Hampden Road and turn right onto Sydney Road
• Hollickwood School is on your right just past Audley Close.

The exhibition on

16 February (2pm - 7pm) 

will be held at

St Paul's Church Parish Hall,

High Road / Woodland Road, New Southgate,
N11 1PN

NLWA meeting, 9 Feb: Procurement Update Report

Report of the Director of Procurement

This report updates Members on progress with the procurement of a long term waste disposal services solution for North London and related matters. 

This includes:

• a review of the Government’s October decision in relation to PFI credit support, 
• action taken in the form of an extended Outline Solutions stage, 
• a revised procurement timetable, 
• work on possible alternatives to the current procurement, 
• sites and planning activity, 
• the procurement budget for 2011-12, and 
• risk issues.

Barnet (not Haringey) wants your views

Link to Barnet web site

"We would like to obtain your views on the draft scheme so we can finalise our proposals prior to submitting a planning application in late spring 2011.

"This consultation will open on 12 February 2011. Please come back on or after this date to give us your views."

Biffa - FCC Skanska - SITA Lend Lease - Urbaser SA - Veolia ES Aurora - Covanta Energy - E.ON Energy from Waste - SSE Generation - Viridor Waste Management (Ooh, are we name-dropping?)

8 February

Further to the North London Waste Authority (NLWA) announcement regarding the next stage of its revised procurement process (4 February). The NLWA has today received outline solutions (ISOS) submissions from five bidders on each procurement, as expected.

The bidders are:

•  On Waste Services:

1.        Biffa Waste Services Ltd

2.        FCC Skanska (Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas SA and
           Skanska Infrastructure Development UK Ltd) (consortium)
3.        SITA Lend Lease (SITA UK Ltd and Catalyst Lend Lease 
           (consortium)
4.        Urbaser SA (with Shanks PFI Investment Ltd , Covanta Energy Ltd
           and Balfour Beatty) (consortium)
5.        Veolia ES Aurora Ltd

•  On Fuel Use:

1.        Covanta Energy Ltd
2.        E.ON Energy from Waste AG / Wheelabrator Technologies Inc
           (consortium)
3.        SSE Generation Ltd
4.        Veolia ES Aurora Ltd
5.        Viridor Waste Management Ltd (Viridor and Keppel Seghers
           Engineering Singapore Pte Ltd (consortium).

The evaluation of these plans will be completed in April 2011, and a report will be submitted to the April meeting of the NLWA. 

[Whereupon, some will get chopped.]

North London Waste Authority: 'We're down, but not defeated'

4 February                                                                                         

The NLWA has announced the next stage of its revised procurement process.

Its plans were hit following the comprehensive spending review (October 2010), when £258.4m in PFI credit support was unexpectedly cut.  The announcement came just months after the new Government had confirmed the funding (July 2010) and that its proposals matched their waste management priorities.

Since last October, the NLWA has been considering its position and next steps.  This included the option of pursuing a judicial review.

 Cllr Clyde Loakes, Chair of the NLWA, said:

"We remain disappointed at DEFRA's decision to cut our £258.4m in PFI credit support.  The decision was unexpected, in large part because our plans had so recently been given the green light.  It also goes against the Government's waste management priorities.

"However, we need to focus on what is the best course of action for the NLWA, which will enable us to achieve our ambition of providing a modern sustainable waste management solution, which offers best value for money to local Council tax payers.

"We felt on balance that pursuing a judicial review, while justified on many levels would not have been in the best interests of local residents.

"We have instead set out a revised timetable which will provide additional time for bidders to update their solutions and to resubmit. We have received an excellent market response from many of the leading waste and energy companies and we look forward to continuing to work with them as our plans progress."

Under the revised timetable, invitations to submit outline solutions (ISOS) has been extended to 8 February 2011.  The evaluation of these plans will be completed in April 2011, and a report will be submitted to the April meeting of the NLWA.
 

Attempt to put the willies up another waste authority

Taken from a lengthy email (and not for the faint-hearted)...

... Yesterday posted a request to the Audit Commission to investigate the whole history of Essex County Council's handling of their waste strategy, et al. I also asked NAO to investigate Defra's role in the matter. Attached is my submission which, you will note, echoes a number of the threads in UKWIN's recent submission to Defra.

NLWA Consultation story in the local press

Link to Barnet Times

Link to 'Brent Cross' web site

"The application has been drawn up in conjunction with Barnet Council, ... and the authority would consider suggestions made which would improve the project.

"The NLWA will then apply to Haringey Council, which has jurisdiction over the site, for planning permission."

"The authority estimates around 560 trucks will go in and out of the plant each working day, predominantly using the A406, Orion Road and Pegasus Way for access."

We say: 

What's that, then? One truck every minute or so, during the day?

Cela a une bonne odeur.

Similar story at:

Click for link

Discussion of Pinkham Way on community web site

Click above

Public Consultation: Sat 12th, Tues 15th and Wed 16th February 2011

Link to PDF of leaflet on NLWA site

"We would like to obtain your views."

Link to North London Waste Plan web site

The Independent: "Recycling centre blaze causes roads chaos"

Link to Independent

"Fire broke out among 1,000 tonnes of waste at Huntingdon Recycling Centre in Ellington, Cambridgeshire.

"Residents who are affected by the smoke are advised to stay indoors and keep doors and windows closed."

The Independent Newspaper: "Eighty Giant Furnaces"

Link to The Independent

"...With further capacity for 1.2 million tonnes of waste-burning already planned, the industry is not having it all its own way – despite the backing of business leaders including the CBI, which earlier this year urged councils to bury their objections to building new incinerators."

"Vehement opposition comes from environmentalists, who claim that incinerators contribute to greenhouse gases and discourage councils from meeting more ambitious recycling goals.

The Independent:
Michael McCarthy commentary

The Independent:
"Chancellor opposes waste disposal on his doorstep"

(Courtesy: 'Brent Cross Coalition')

Pinkham Way move goes to Barnet Cabinet

Report to Barnet Cabinet 29 Nov., here.

"Cabinet approved the sale of the Council’s land at Pinkham Way in LB Haringey to the NLWA for £12.1 million as part of a collaborative joint venture to relocate the Depot and provide for a new waste handling facility. Contracts were exchanged in December 2009. The receipt is due in January 2011, subject to satisfaction of contractual preconditions and completion of the sale. 

 

"The programme to develop the site for waste and the relocated depot is complex and high risk but is being managed between the Council’s Commercial Directorate (governed by the Relocation Board) and NLWA Procurement team."

Brent Cross Campaigners Lobby MPs inside House of Commons as Experts Warn of Incineration Dangers

Click above for UKWIN news item, and/or "Read more" if shown below

ENVIRONMENTAL groups opposing the Brent Cross incinerator took their fight to the House of Commons on Tuesday of last week.

Together with invited MPs, they heard leading waste experts spell out the dangers of incinerators, like at Brent Cross, and the arguments for a “zero waste” alternative. However, Mike Freer, local MP for Finchley and Golders Green, failed to attend.

BBC Video - Why we do not need incinerators

DEFRA: "The offer to support PFI Grant funding for North London Waste Authority is withdrawn."

Link to DEFRA statement

Link to North London Waste Authority

DEFRA: "Defra’s Waste Infrastructure Delivery Programme will continue to provide assistance to any projects which continue with their procurement of waste infrastructure in the absence of central government financial support."

UKWIN responds to Defra’s call for evidence

(Click above for link)

 Incineration diverts resources from recycling, and diverts biogenic resources from composting and effective energy recovery via anaerobic digestion. The installation of incinerators, which are inherently energy inefficient, produce toxic emissions and massive quantities of CO2e, and do not save on greenhouse gas emissions, should cease forthwith, and pending the achievement of zero waste, inert non-recyclables should be put to landfill.

Working with local communities leads to both better decision making and a greater sense of ownership, helping to avoid lengthy and costly conflicts between communities, local authorities and waste companies regarding proposed waste facilities. Conversely, civil society in general and local communities in particular are alienated when incinerators are imposed against their will.

Some have expressed experiencing their own local authorities acting as agents for the waste companies, intent on forcing through decisions to build waste incinerators, without due regard for the views of local residents in the vicinity of the proposed developments.

Incinerator Failures on Isle of Wight and in Yorkshire

---

Haringey DPD: Site Allocations, including Pinkham Way

 

Too late to comment, but here are contact details to discuss Pinkham Way with Haringey Council...

North London Waste Authority report

(Click on image for report.)

4.4 Haringey Development Management Policies DPD

Background

4.4.1 The Development Management Policies Development Plan Document
(DPD) has been published for a period of public consultation that also
closed on 21 June 2010.  

This DPD is considered to be of particular importance for the Pinkham Way site which is included in the Authority’s Outline Business Case, as it will establish the primary policies against which any planning application will be determined.

'Royal Commission on London' - proposed by ex-Labour Government Minister

Friends of the Earth Primer

Incinerators going up in smoke [from Brent Cross Coalition site]

North London Waste Plan:

This report summarises the responses received to the consultation carried out on the draft North London Waste Plan (NLWP), which is officially known as the Preferred Options report.

 
The responses reported on here are being used to inform the development of the next version of the plan.
 
 
Former Friern Barnet Sewage Treatment Works, Pinkham Way, Haringey:

• Concern about the inclusion of this site was expressed by a significant number of local residents and a range of local organizations, including Hollickwood School, Colney Hatch Residents Association, Bounds Green Residents Association, Hollickwood Community Development Association, Barnet Green Party and local Friends of the Earth groups.
• The main concerns expressed relate to access to the site (particularly the potential use of residential streets by vehicles using the site), traffic congestion, impacts on residential amenity, health, nature conservation and impacts on the adjacent play area and nearby school and community centre.
• Natural England expressed concern about the potential impacts on two Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation (SINCs) on the site.

We will consider whether this site should remain in the Plan in the light of the issues raised relating to groundwater and biodiversity, and specific local issues relating to access, amenity and other local impacts. We will also seek assurances from North London Waste Authority that if the site were developed under their current ownership, they would be able to provide access from the slip road off the North Circular, as assumed in our site assessment.

The decision about whether the site remains in the Plan will also be made in the context of a wider review of the overall need for sites in the light of the new waste projections which have been announced by the Mayor since the draft Plan was published.

Not incineration???

Typical Industry Claims About 'Not Incineration' Technologies:

• “Pollution-free”

• “Zero Emissions”

• “Proven To Be Safe”

• “A New Way to Recycle”

• “Waste is Renewable Energy”

• “Closed Loop”

• Alternative to Landfills

Click on picture:

Do we want Gasification of Domestic Waste?

(Thanks to Brent Cross Coalition.)

More Incinerator Information...