[Reposted] Report on EuroMeeting: 'Towards Zero Waste'

(Click to enlarge)

On Monday 14 March 2011, more than 30 people from 13 European countries – Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, UK, Czech Republic, Romania, Spain and Hungary – came together for the first time, to define a 'Zero Waste Strategy' for Europe. The event was organised by GAIA and EEB.

Throughout the day, there were debates about the meaning of 'Zero Waste in Europe' and the need for the NGO community to set the agenda for waste and resource management for the future. That is, moving the focus beyond becoming a recycling society, towards becoming a Zero Waste society. It was emphasized that Zero Waste is a journey, not a destination!

The main difference between a recycling society and a Zero Waste society is the emphasis put on reducing the residual fraction, i.e. the percentage of waste that cannot be recycled or reused. Zero Waste means maximising recycling, but it also means minimising the residual part of waste so as to phase out the need for landfilling, incineration, and any other disposal option.

Zero Waste is an alternative to traditional waste management, because it aims not to manage waste, but to phase it out, so that the refuse of a process is the raw material for a new process. For this reason, Zero Waste can also aim at social and economic regeneration, at putting carbon back in the soil, and at bringing environmental justice to the way we manage our common resources.

In the afternoon, there were presentations of Zero Waste experiences from the Italian, UK, and Catalan Zero Waste networks. In Italy, there are already 25 municipalities commiting to Zero Waste, and the Zero Waste Research Centre in Capannori is already in operation, with successful experience in redesigning operations.

This meeting set up the framework for future cooperation between European NGOs, and for replication of best practices. The Zero Waste goal is starting to take hold, all over the EU!

25 Jan: Questions to the Mayor (we'll look out for the answers)

Food Waste (1)

Question No: 266 / 2012

Mike Tuffrey

Please provide an up-to-date list of the food waste collection services offered in each London borough.

Food Waste (2)

Question No: 267 / 2012

Mike Tuffrey

Will you set a date by which all boroughs should have introduced food waste collections? If not, why not?

Recycling

Question No: 268 / 2012

Mike Tuffrey

In view of statistics released by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) which show that the proportion of household waste sent for recycling rose by just 0.7 per cent, from 31.8 percent in 2009/10 to 32.5 per cent 2010/11, how will you meet your target to recycle or compost 45 per cent of London’s waste by 2015?

Anaerobic Digestion

Question No: 269 / 2012

Mike Tuffrey

London sends around 460,000 tonnes of municipal food waste to landfill each year, yet planned schemes for anaerobic digestion will only provide a total capacity of c. 260,000 tonnes. Do you intend to address this shortfall? If so, how?

Daily Mail: "New move to back airport in Thames Estuary"

Link to Daily Mail

"An airport in the Thames Estuary has moved a step closer, with the Government set to include the plans in a consultation. The scheme is expected to cost between £40billion and £70billion.

"Mr Johnson has also praised separate designs by architect Lord Foster, for a £50billion airport on a sparse strip of land on the Isle of Grain in Kent, which juts out into the estuary. But it is the plan for an airport built on an artificial island that is to be part of the consultation."

Haringey LibDems: " 'Sham' consultation ignores residents’ views on Pinkham Way land"

Link to lynnefeatherstone.org

"Local Liberal Democrats have branded the re-run of a consultation on a Haringey strategy a sham, after a report published last week showed that the Council has disregarded the responses of many local residents. Despite voicing their strong opposition to the changes which pave the way for the waste plant at Pinkham Way, sixty responses from local residents were rejected.

"The Council was made to repeat the consultation on the re-designation of land in its Core Strategy, which included the site that is proposed to be a new waste facility at Pinkham Way, due to concerns raised by the Planning Inspector that the Council failed to consult widely enough, the first time."

Newbury Today: "Transport Secretary recommends refusal of Chieveley incinerator"

Link to Newbury Today

"THE Secretary of State for Transport has dealt a hammer blow to Grundon’s hopes of building an incinerator at Chieveley, by bluntly telling the waste firm that planning permission should not be granted for the plant.

"The consultation process is barely a month old, but the Highways Agency has given short shrift to the application, by submitting notice of an indefinite refusal to West Berkshire Council."

Barnet Green Party: "Join Pinkham Way day of action"

Link to web site

"Join Barnet Green Party’s day of action on Saturday 21 January, when we will be campaigning in Coppetts Ward to highlight the threat posed by the North London Waste Authority’s plans for a mammoth rubbish-squashing plant at Pinkham Way in Friern Barnet.

"In you can help [sic], come to our stall outside the Co-op in Woodhouse Road, Friern Barnet, any time from 10am. 

"Barnet Greens have also submitted 38 proposals for Barnet, Enfield and Haringey boroughs to improve their waste reduction, re-use and recycling operations, showing how the total volume of waste could fall more sharply even than current trends."

Evening Standard: "Cameron's backing makes Boris Island airport 'irresistible'"

Link to Evening Standard

"Plans to build the world's biggest airport in the Thames Estuary took a significant step forward today, as David Cameron prepared to announce a formal consultation on the project.

"Mayor Boris Johnson, who originally proposed the scheme, today hailed moves for a new hub airport as 'irresistible', and said it would solve the South-East's aviation crisis, create jobs and boost the economy."

Mrs Angry: Boris and Brian Coleman

Link above to Mrs Angry's 'Broken Barnet'
(for meeting report, then a Brent Cross post)

" 'Heightened alert', said all the security signs.

"True, there was a sense of barely repressed hysteria, in some quarters, at the 'Talk London' event last night. It was kind of a Broken Barnet political Glastonbury, with Boris mainlining, and Brian Coleman playing the part of a rather troubled Michael Eavis, worried about crowd control, and all the acts finishing on time.

"We trooped through the gates of Hendon police centre, and then through three sets of security checks, all of whom scrutinised your ticket and verified your identity with great interest, as if you were about to board a flight to New York with a box of fireworks and a big stash of weed in your hand luggage. Mrs Angry made it through, despite the fact that her ticket, thanks to the cheeky blogger who ordered them, bore the unlikely name of 'Mrs Morris Mustard'. Wishful thinking, Mr Mustard? Join the queue, mate."

Mr Mustard: "Here's thousands of pounds - find us a new site"

Link to Barnet's 'Mr Mustard'

"12 January 2012: Appointment of an external commercial property agent to find properties suitable as Barnet depot relocation sites." [It is unclear if moving some parts of the depot to Pinkham Way is still 'assumed' 100%.]

"19 January 2009: It has been agreed by this committee that a new depot should be built on part of the former Friern Barnet sewage works site. The area of the site identified for the new depot will not be available for the commencement of building works until 2011 – this is because of the need to secure planning permission for the redevelopment of the whole of the former sewage works site from Haringey Council, and for the purchaser/developer of the remainder of the land to carry out works to eradicate Japanese knotweed, decontamination, site reprofiling and to provide road and services connections to the depot site. Thus, it is doubtful whether the new depot will be available until 2013 – approximately three years after the vacation of the existing depot is likely to be required."

Boris: "Investing in Outer London" public meeting (Chaired by Brian Coleman)

Link to Mayoral web site

"Talk London will take place at the Peel Centre in Hendon, NW9 5JE on Tuesday 17 January, 7pm - 8.30pm. Doors open at 6pm.

[This is immediately next to the playing fields,
that Barnet's 'Area Action Plan' wants to
concrete over with housing, by the way.]

• People are encouraged to register online in advance.
• Registering online doesn't guarantee a seat.
• People who have registered in advance can turn up from 6pm and get a seat on a first-come, first-served basis
• People who have not registered in advance will be able to turn up on the night, and try to register from 6.45pm, but there is a risk all the seats will have been taken by this time.

Briefing on 'Investment in London' before the 'Boris Meets The People' meeting, 17 January

Link to 'Brent Cross Coalition'

Sita: Making 'anaerobic digestion' more digestible

Link to Sita newsletter

Background

"SITA UK runs a waste management site at Benedict Wharf, Mitcham, South London. The site includes:

• Waste transfer station licensed to handle 275,000 tonnes of waste per year
• Materials recycling facility licensed to handle 54,500 tonnes per year
• Transfer depot
• Maintenance workshops.

Planning application

Following Merton Council’s decision not to grant planning permission for SITA UK’s plans to redevelop the waste site at Benedict Wharf in October 2010, the company revised its proposals to take account of local concerns. The plans were submitted to the Greater London Authority on 14 July 2011 and [have now been approved]. Details of the hearing can be found here: http://www.london.gov.uk/priorities/planning/public-hearings/sita-recycling-park.

The Mayor of London has the ability to determine planning applications, like SITA UK’s, considered to be of strategic importance to London. Towards the end of 2010, Boris Johnson decided to take over the determination of this application and in the autumn, he will decided to grant planning permission for the proposed development.

To address Merton Council’s and local communities’ concerns about the visual impact of the proposed facility on surrounding areas, we made the following changes:

• The size and footprint of the proposed anaerobic digestion facility has been reduced by more than half.
• The amount of material that the proposed anaerobic digestion facility can process has been decreased from 100,000 tonnes to 40,000 tonnes per year.
• We have removed plans to develop an in-vessel composting facility.
• The height of the anaerobic digestion stack has reduced from 37 metres to 32 metres.
• The height of the anaerobic digestion tanks has been reduced from 24.5 metres to 15 metres.
• Overall, these changes will result in 20 per cent less traffic in during the second phase of the development than previously proposed.

The proposals for the site now include:

• An extended materials recycling facility, which would separate and process up to 80,000 tonnes per year.
• An anaerobic digestion facility, which would process up to 40,000 tonnes of catering and food waste per year.
• A waste transfer station that would handle up to 40,000 tonnes per year.
• A new administration building and visitor centre to allow children and members of the public to learn more about recycling and how we generate renewable energy from the waste that we process.
• A new landscaping and environmental improvement scheme around the site."

BBC: "Ten 100-year predictions that came true"

Link to BBC web site

"In 1900, an American civil engineer called John Elfreth Watkins made a number of predictions, about what the world would be like in 2000. How did he do?

"In December of that year, at the start of the 20th Century, John Elfreth Watkins wrote a piece published on page eight of an American women's magazine, Ladies' Home Journal, entitled 'What May Happen in the Next Hundred Years'."

UK Without Incinerators Network: Review of 2011

UKWIN Coordinator’s 2011 Year End Report:

Reflect, Celebrate, Donate!

The time has come once again for UKWIN to reflect upon the year gone by, to celebrate our many achievements, and to appeal to members and supporters for contributions that will enable our movement to continue to grow in size and influence.

2011 has been UKWIN’s busiest year so far.

We continue to welcome new members, both individual campaigners and local groups, and the Network now encompasses more than 300 individuals and more than 85 groups. Of course we would all rather see shrinking membership as a result of a moratorium on new incinerator plans, accompanied by the phasing out of existing incinerators, leading to a United Kingdom without incineration. As our name suggests, we are all working towards this goal, and our network grows stronger with each new member.

During 2011 campaigners experienced some high points, worthy of celebration, and some low moments. There are also numerous situations where the jury is out and where outstanding issues will carry over into 2012. We have seen planning decisions increasingly involve the courts, and due in part to the impending changes to the planning system associated with the National Planning Policy Framework, this trend looks set to continue.

Another trend that looks set to continue is the ever-decreasing quantity of waste arisings resulting in an ongoing reduction in residual waste. This is an area that we intend to explore in detail, and we plan to publish our research findings in 2012.

UKWIN activities carried out during 2011

• With the support of a core group of dedicated volunteers, UKWIN’s National Coordinator provided information, advice and guidance via e-mail, telephone and skype, to our member groups, and to journalists, academics, politicians, and to the many others making inquiries about incineration and alternative approaches to waste management
• UKWIN maintained our much-visited table and interactive map of existing and potential incinerator sites, and we added a new status of “prevented incinerators” – We are grateful to those volunteers who helped keep the information up-to-date by providing us with the latest details of their campaigns
• We revamped our website (http://ukwin.org.uk/) – Report available upon request
• UKWIN made several submissions to Government waste and planning consultations (see http://ukwin.org.uk/resources/consultationsubmissions/), and as a result of our involvement in the Waste Review, UKWIN has been made a consultee on the Government’s forthcoming Guide to Energy from Waste
• UKWIN published several new briefings (see http://ukwin.org.uk/2011/06/30/ukwin-waste-review-briefing-released/ and http://www.ukwin.org.uk/resources/briefings/), and we commissioned Eunomia to produce a bespoke piece of research (available from http://ukwin.org.uk/files/pdf/Eunomia_July_2011_Climate_%20Change_Impacts.pdf)
• UKWIN also produced a Waste Wood Biomass Objection Template that can be adapted for local planning objections
• More than 40 news items were created for the UKWIN website (thanks to those who have helped with this!), and some 1,600 e-mail messages were exchanged via the Waste Discussion List (Let me know if you would like to join this discussion list of more than 100 activists)
• UKWIN and our member groups regularly featured in trade press publications (such as Materials Recycling Week), and increasingly also appeared in mainstream media (e.g. local, regional and national newspapers, and local radio and regional television broadcasts)
• In February, UKWIN delivered a valuable Campaign Workshop in Hertfordshire, and in April we held a successful Annual General Meeting in Leicester
• UKWIN continued to deepen our contacts with Government officials, including Defra civil servants, and with sympathetic Members of Parliament, and organisations such as WRAP and ReAlliance
• UKWIN played an active role in supporting our member groups with several waste core strategy examinations in public and with some planning inquiries, notably the Dearne Valley (Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham) Waste Core Strategy Examination in Public and the Shropshire (Shrewsbury Battlefield) public inquiry
• Our Chair, Tim Hill, helped numerous groups by lending his technical expertise to assessing proposals in relation to the dreaded R1 formula 
• UKWIN deepened our contact with like-minded organisations, including the Zero Waste Alliance UK, Waste Watch, Biofuelwatch, Freegle, and the Coventry-based 2020 Zero Waste Project, as well as Friends of the Earth and GAIA 
• We secured funding, from the Ecology Trust, to continue to employ a Coordinator through to the end of 2012 and beyond; and our bid to the Polden Puckham Charitable Foundation for some funding that we could use for residual waste trend research was also successful! (For more details see below.)

Causes for celebration

In 2011, UKWIN member groups up and down the country made significant gains, worthy of celebration – including (but not limited to):

• Ongoing successful resistance in Derby to both the Spondon and the Sinfin proposals
• Planning permission refused (again) for Shepshed proposal in Leicestershire, alongside the removal of the Bardon Business Park, Coalville (near Ellistown) and Whetstone sites from the County’s waste plans
• Ongoing success in preventing a Sherwood Forest incinerator in Rainworth (near Mansfield), Nottinghamshire
• Acceptance by Cyclamax of the refusal of planning permission for their Chesterfield incinerator proposal
• Huge surge in opposition to incineration following the IPC decision for Rookery Pit, Bedfordshire (and that decision’s impact on the Twinwoods proposal)
• The tremendous efforts being made by campaigners in Hertfordshire, who are simultaneously participating in both the Waste Core Strategy Examination in Public, and the planning consultation for the New Barnfield (Hatfield) proposal, whilst also keeping a watchful eye on potential proposals for Ware and for Harper Lane (near St. Albans)
• Media-grabbing gains made by Kings Lynn campaigners, who are challenging the Government’s commitment to localism and who have already succeeded in bringing about the withholding of PFI credits, putting the Norfolk Waste PFI procurement process in jeopardy
• The determination of campaigners in Cheshire to try everything and more to stall the progress of the Runcorn incinerator
• Success in scuppering the biomass burning facility that had been planned for Urmston, Manchester
• The continuing development of the Green Alternatives to Incineration in Scotland (GAINS) network, and their resolute campaigning at both local and national levels in Scotland
• Success of campaigners in West Berkshire, who have already managed to reduce the capacity of the Newbury proposal by 100,000 tonnes, before a planning application has even been submitted
• The dropping of the Beaconsfield site in Buckinghamshire, the Sutton Courtney site in Oxfordshire, and the Manvers site in Barnsley
• The precedent-setting legal decision to quash the planning permission for an incinerator proposed for Cornwall
• The emergence of the South Wales Without Incineration Network (SWWIN) helping to coordinate the campaigns in Wales, and the victories scored when the Merthyr Tydfil and Newport (Corporation Road) proposals were withdrawn
• The excellent documents produced as part of the campaign against an expansion of the existing Tyseley incinerator in Birmingham
• All of the efforts that went into the planning inquiry to uphold refusal of planning permission for the Shrewsbury Battlefield site in Shropshire, and for the planning inquiry to withdraw planning permission for the Hartlebury incinerator proposed for Kidderminster in Worcestershire
• The demise of the Saltend proposal for Hull, despite both planning permission and an environmental permit having been secured – giving hope to us all.

2011 also saw UKWIN paying modest amounts of money for advertising for the first time – we now have a page on The Ecologist website, at:

http://www.theecologist.org/green_business_directory/charities_organisations/1147950/united_kingdom_without_incineration_network_ukwin.html

During 2011, UKWIN succeeded in increasing donations to more than £3,000 (via cheques, standing orders, bank transfers and PayPal), including several very generous donations from a small number of campaigners and groups (although it must be said that UKWIN received no financial contributions at all from some member groups). These financial contributions are in addition to the many thousands of pounds worth of in-kind (voluntary) contributions made to UKWIN over the past year alone!

Our Income in 2011 is up on that in 2010, and whilst these contributions represent a genuine boost in UKWIN’s financial position, we remain far short of self-sufficiency, and thus we remain heavily dependant on the ongoing goodwill of grant-making trusts. Moreover, we could do more to support local campaigns if we had more resources, e.g. to pay for professional services. This is particularly pertinent where we have to support not only campaigns against planning applications but planning appeals, examinations in public and legal cases that reach the High Court.

It is vital for UKWIN’s future that our members and supporters help by renewing membership and by donating money to enable us to maintain the momentum, and so that we can extend the capacity of UKWIN. To join/renew go to: http://ukwin.org.uk/apply/ and to find out how you can donate to UKWIN, please visit: http://ukwin.org.uk/donate/

Payments can be made by bank transfer to the UKWIN account (Sort code 08-92-99, Account number 65276853) or by cheque made payable to UKWIN and posted to: UKWIN Membership c/o Shlomo Dowen 25 The Birchlands, Forest Town, MANSFIELD NG19 0ER. Alternatively, payments can be made via PayPal by clicking the button on our website.

Our hopes and dreams for 2012

Your contributions and donations will help enable UKWIN to realise some or all of our collective hopes and dreams for the organisation and for the movement as a whole. The ground we can cover during 2012 depends on many factors, including the resources available to extend UKWIN’s capacity to work effectively.

A UKWIN dream is to create a regional structure of both paid and volunteer Regional Coordinators to work with the National Coordinator, sharing the existing work-load and extending UKWIN’s capacity to become ever more involved in supporting the grassroots work of our members. This dream dovetails with the dream of greatly extending our influence through ongoing engagement with Government. These dreams inform our hopes.

During 2012 we hope to deliver a Campaign Workshop in Leeds (along the lines of the Workshop delivered in Hertfordshire), to bring together the many groups active throughout Yorkshire for training and for sharing skills, information, experience, etc. We hope to be in a position to deliver similar Workshops in other areas, in response to requests.

We also hope to provide our members with useful pieces of research, starting with the development of a tool for demonstrating anticipated quantities of residual waste based on a series of independently-reviewed assumptions. UKWIN is currently in discussions with Waste Statistician, and Earth Mover Award Winner, Keith Kondakor regarding this work.

Arrangements are coming together for UKWIN’s next Annual General Meeting to take place on Saturday 21 April 2012, at Greenpeace’s London Office (Canonbury Villas, London N1 2PN). Our dream is that this return to London will be the biggest and most worthwhile gathering of UKWIN members, and we hope to see you there!

UKWIN dreams of a United Kingdom without incineration, and we hope that 2012 will be a pivotal year in the fulfilment of that dream. To this end, 2012 will see UKWIN working ever more closely with like-minded organisations, and of course with our own members.

xxxxx

To UKWIN’s Trustees, our Action Group, our many volunteers and members, let me thank you all for your solid support throughout 2011, and for your help in making the most of 2012.

Shlomo Dowen, National Coordinator

shlomo.dowen@gmail.com

Daily Telegraph: "We may pass through Hell, but the UK will rise from the flames"

Link to Daily Telegraph

"... The UK's future relative economic performance will be subject to competing forces. 

"On the negative side, we still face a stark adjustment in both the housing and labour markets. Fiscal tightening will also continue, although it is far from clear that this will be any greater here than in either the US or the eurozone. 

"On the other hand, the prospective drop of inflation will be much greater here than elsewhere. Accordingly, the bounce-back of consumption could be proportionately greater. ... Once the eurozone recovers, the growth in UK exports should be much stronger than the equivalent in the US."

---

The Guardian: "Angela Merkel has the whip hand in an orgy of austerity"

Link to The Guardian

"The language of S&M is also now part of the eurozone discourse. The joint letter sent last month by Sarkozy and Angela Merkel to Herman van Rompuy, president of the European Council, explaining the Franco-German plans for future governance of the single currency stressed 'fiscal discipline' and the need to 'detect and correct departures from sound economic and fiscal policies long before they become a threat to the stability of the euro area as a whole'.

"... This sort of aberrant behaviour is now commonplace across the eurozone where, unlike in Britain, it cannot be blamed on the peculiarities of the educational system. Perhaps a Freud or a Jung could explain what is happening: it certainly defies rational economic analysis."

The Guardian: Capital City closes waste dump: "conflict between the national [and local] government"

Link to The Guardian

"The crisis became acute as 'more urban areas became densely populated, so that waste was further concentrated,' said Ramón Ojeda. 'Consumerism has increased sharply, in tandem with the absence of a culture of non-generation, classification and recycling of waste.'

" 'We are facing environmental and regulatory chaos. Powers vested in the authorities should be turned over to ordinary citizens, without any privatisation of waste management services, so that we can have an organisation with broad representation, including experts, universities, citizens and private companies,' said Ojeda, whose term as head of ICEAC is due to end in 2013."

Mr ('Pinkham-Way's-only-a-sewage-farm') Coleman gives his views on the internet

Rory Bergin: "Cycling – are our policies working?"

Link to web site

"The evidence for the success or failure of current cycling policies across the UK is mixed. Apart from some major successes, particularly in London, cycling rates are rising in the UK, mainly for leisure trips, but are still extremely small compared to other European neighbours with a similar climate, population density and geography.

"... For our friends on the Continent there doesn’t appear to be any doubt that segregated cycle lanes are the way forward, they are busy and successful. The success appears largely down to their use, there are fewer accidents because they are well-designed and well used, and no one is surprised that they are being used."

Enfield Independent: 'Former Enfield Head of Finance is accused of £500,000 theft'

Link to web site

A FORMER head of finance at Enfield Council has been accused of stealing nearly £500,000 of taxpayers money.

John Jossa, 58, appeared at City of London Magistrates on Tuesday charged with fraud by false representation and obtaining property by deception.

Mr Jossa, who is father to EastEnders star Jacqueline Jossa who plays Lauren Branning in the BBC soap, denies the charges against him.

Mrs Angry predicts ... a doomed face-saving exercise in Broken Barnet

Link to Mrs Angry's Broken Barnet

(a product endorsed by Sec. of State Eric Pickles)

Mrs X: "Mrs Angry: are you feeling refreshed after your Christmas and New Year break?"

Mrs Angry: "I am not, thank you for asking, Mrs X. But never mind, my psychic energies are simply buzzing with activity, and I have many predictions for the New Year ... and now my spirit guide is whispering something in my ear ... oh. How curious. Really? Mmm. Goodness."

Mrs X: "What? Do share with us, Mrs Angry. We won't tell anyone."

Mrs Angry: " Very well. This must not pass further than the imaginary boundaries of this post, but I can see a very interesting development in Broken Barnet ..."

Mrs X: "Go on, go on."

---

(She does. 

And also mentions economic activity in

"Enfield/Southgate/Cockfosters".)

Roadworks on Bounds Green section of North Circular to be completed by Spring 2012

Friern Barnet and Whetstone residents know all about the effects of the roadworks currently taking place on the Bounds Green section of the North Circular Road. They see very clearly the congestion when they go to Tesco and wonder as the line of traffic stretches back towards Finchley Central. 

A view of the traffic jam from the Colney Hatch bridge

 

Frequent users of the North Circular, who are heading towards Southgate or Winchmore Hill or Enfield, have learnt to exit at the intersection with either Colney Hatch Lane or the Finchley High Road. 

Some drivers on their journey east, wanting to skip a few hundred yards of crawling traffic, use the Tesco slip road, cross over Colney Hatch Lane and take the slip road towards the retail park, before re-joining the North Circular. 

A new footbridge at Telford Road, Bowes Road and Wilmer Way

For years, the Bounds Green section of the North Circular has been an anomaly, as it went from six lanes at the intersection of Pinkham Way and Station Road (by the New Southgate gas holder) to three lanes along Telford Road. The next stretch east from the dog leg, at the intersection of Telford Road and Bowes Road, to the Clockhouse intersection at Green Lanes accommodated only four lanes in total. 

The politicians dithered for years about providing funds for road widening. Over the years there have been many Ministers of Transport of different political parties, who as far as Friern Barnet residents were concerned, were all useless. Houses along the North Circular were purchased, the occupants were moved on, the houses started to disintegrate. With a change of plan, these houses were refurbished, and are now being sold off. 

Telford Road, during the roadworks;
traffic is reduced to one lane in each direction.

The funds having eventually been found to provide three lanes in each direction, and the widening road-works started in March 2010. One of the first effects of the roadworks was to reduce this major arterial road, in certain sections, to just two lanes in total. This has inevitably caused even greater traffic chaos in Friern Barnet (and places beyond). Since the roadworks started, even more regular drivers of the North Circular have learnt to get off the North Circular and head towards their destinations via Finchley High Road, Colney Hatch Lane and the narrow roads of Friern Barnet.

Thanks to the North Circular Road congestion, local residents are familiar with the gridlock around Tesco’s car park, when it is difficult to get in and impossible to get out. 

Along the roadworks from the intersection with Station Road to the Clockhouse/ Green Lanes intersection there is much building, rebuilding and modifications taking place at the same time. Most of the work is to widen the road, but there are other projects—a new footbridge is being built; existing electrical and water supplies are being diverted; and the culvert handling Bounds Green Brook is being modified. 

The bridge over Bowes Road, carrying Hertford North railway line

The new footbridge is being constructed close to the dog leg where Telford Road, Bowes Road and Wilmer Way intersect (see above). It is near to the existing footbridge by Bowes Road school. There was talk of having a push-button traffic light system at this point to provide disabled access to the school. Such a scheme on this busy part of the North Circular would inevitably lead to one or two schoolchildren being flattened. Hopefully, the on-demand traffic light scheme has been abandoned, and access across the road will be provided by the new footbridge. Hopefully, sense has been seen. 

The bridge carrying the Piccadilly Line is one of the 'pinch points' on this section of the North Circular. There are three arches to the bridge; the central arch can take four lane of traffic, and the two outer arches could take at least one lane each. It is not clear, at the moment, how the bridge may be reconfigured to take three lanes in each direction. The railway bridge carrying the Hertford North section of the railway line is another of the 'pinch points'. However, it is easy to see that, by using the previous green space, as well as the second arch of the bridge, three lanes can be created in each direction. 

Before Spring 2012, various sections of the roadworks will be completed and opened up, and so the days when the road can take only one lane of traffic in one direction will come to end. And, the lives of Friern Barnet residents, as far as traffic is concerned, should begin to improve. Telford Road, during the roadworks, traffic is reduced to one lane in each direction. 

Harry Gluck

(in a recent article in the magazine of Friern Barnet and Whetstone Residents' Association.)

The Guardian: "Boris Johnson and the 'invisible crisis' of air pollution"

Link to Dave Hill, The Guardian

"Cleaner air. I think we can agree that we need more of it. It is therefore good news is that phase 3 and, indeed, phase 4 of the capital's Low Emission Zone (LEZ) programme came into effect yesterday.

"...  Simon Birkett, director of the Campaign for Clean Air in London (CAL), compares Boris's reaction to all this with the more vigorous public health response of the authorities to London's Great Smog of 1952, which is believed to have led to the same number of deaths in a shorter space of time."

Message from Local Government Minister Grant Shapps (opposing plant which may be similar to Pinkham Way)

"First of all, Happy New Year."

"I wanted to provide you with this quick update on the campaign against the threatened incinerator at New Barnfield [in his Welwyn Hatfield constituency. This seems to be an incinerator fuel plant, like Pinkham Way. The output from both plants might go to another site at Hoddesdon.]

"As you may know, I’ve worked with locals to fight this proposal for several years. We're at a critical point in the process, and I need your help. So far we have:

1. Set up the New Barnfield (Action Fund) Trust to gather funds
2. Raised £50,000 to pay for legal advice and representation to fight the proposals
3. Written to the Secretary of State calling for the Planning Application to be examined at the highest level possible.

"Three things you can do to help:

1. Go to www.SaveNewBarnfield.com and sign the petition - even if you’ve signed it previously because we’re collecting further signatories.  Click here to go straight to the website. Whilst you’re there you can watch the fly-thru’ video [below] showing how the incinerator would look!
2. Forward the www.SaveNewBarnfield.com to your local family and friends to encourage them to do the same – AND share the link with your Facebook friends, Twitter followers, Google+, LinkedIn, Email signature – just spread the word!    You’ll find a Facebook ‘Like Us’ button on the website, so please click this too.
3. Finally (and importantly) please submit your views to the planning consultation by emailing newbarnfieldplanning@hertscc.gov.uk or by filling in the form here. The more people who object to the application, the greater pressure we put on Hertfordshire County Council to reject it. There are some pointers here: www.SaveNewBarnfield.com/campaign.html to help. Or if you prefer to write, submissions should be addressed to: New Barnfield Planning Team, Spatial and Land Use Planning, CHN216. County Hall, Pegs Lane, Hertford, Hertfordshire,SG13 8DN

"Many thanks for your help. Around half of all incinerator applications do not make it through. This is an uphill battle, but we don't want to fail through lack of anyone speaking up.

"I hope you have a good 2012 and if there's anything I can do during the year, then please don't hesitate to get in touch. I'm always on this email: grant@shapps.com"

"Best Wishes, Grant"

Enfield: "Resolve to recycle in 2012"

"Enfield Council is urging residents to get 2012 off to a green start by recycling as much as they possibly can in January.

"Households across the borough will be groaning under the weight of used wrapping paper, greeting cards, real Christmas trees and tonnes of biscuit tins and plastic food packaging - and that's before we mention kettles, toaster and the hundreds of electrical toys that have been earmarked to be thrown away after being replaced with shiny new models.

"The good news is that these can be recycled from the kerbside, and most will be collected by recycling crews on resident's [sic] normal collection day.

The Conservative Way:
Link to Cllr. Daniel Pearce
"Towards Zero Waste"

"Enfield Council's crews are out as usual in the new year and residents will have their refuse and recycling collected on their normal days - recommend removal of sentence due to been stated above [Shurely Shome Mishake. Yes, this is a real sentence from a real Enfield Council Press Release!]

"Residents can recycle greeting cards and envelopes, empty gift boxes, with the plastic packaging removed, paper based gift wrap, sweet tins and other plastic food packaging in their small black recycling box or blue lidded wheeled bin.

"Christmas trees -minus decorations, pots and turf can be put out for collection with the garden waste on the normal day, but if the tree is taller than six feet tall, it will need to be cut into smaller pieces, or taken to a park for recycling.

"Experts predict a huge surge in small electrical goods have been bought for the home this Christmas, but three quarters of old electrical items such as MP3 players, kettles, cameras and coffee makers - not to mention toys will end up in landfill with an estimated 1.3million electrical items expected to be thrown away in 2012 across the UK.

"The good news is these items can be taken to Barrowell Green Recycling Centre, and diverted away from landfill which helps protect the environment and saves the council money in landfill costs each year. 

"They can be also taken to the Council's small recycling banks located at major supermarkets or residents can book free collections of electrical equipment from their property through our website at www.enfield.gov.uk and following the links or by calling 0208 379 1000.

Enfield Council's Cabinet Member for Environment, Cllr Chris Bond, said:

"The traditional clear out in the New Year is an ideal time to recycle as huge amounts of the items we are looking to dispose of are recyclable.

Whether it’s a real Christmas tree, a kettle or mile upon mile of wrapping paper, we can recycle it all and help save the environment, and money by diverting these items away from landfill."

---

Christmas trees can be taken to Barrowell Green Recycling Centre, Bury Lodge Depot, Enfield Playing Fields, Forty Hall or Albany, Broomfield, Bush Hill, Durant's, Groveland's, Jubilee, Oakwood, Pymmes, Town or Trent parks until 8 January 2012. Trees can be taken to Barrowell Green after this date.

Waste: 'A Managed Resource By 2020'

Link to 'The Wasters Blog'

"...Numbers for EU resource usage and waste produced are huge, as given by the EU Commission:

• Disposal of 2.7bn tonnes of waste annually 
• ... 98m tonnes of which is hazardous. 
• Only 40 percent of the EU’s solid waste is re-used or recycled.

"There will within the next few years be another new layer of regulations to ensure that:

1. Higher priority is given to re-use and recycling.
2. All product design integrating a life-cycle approach, is implemented 
3. Yet bigger incentives for waste prevention and recycling, and 
4. More public investment takes place in modern facilities for waste treatment and recycling.

The Guardian: "Global hunger for plastic packaging leaves waste solution a long way off"

Link to The Guardian

"Five hundred tonnes of Christmas tree lights and at least 25m bags of plastic sweet wrappers, turkey coverings, drinks bottles and broken toys will be thrown away by UK homes this Christmas and new year. But only a tiny proportion of this waste will be recycled.

"Even at other times of year, only a little under a quarter of the UK's plastic waste is recycled, but over the festive period still less escapes the tip, according to a survey by home drinks maker SodaStream. Globally, recycling of plastics is even smaller."

---

Link to The Guardian

"EU warns: Wasting environmental resources could spark new recession"

"The overuse and waste of valuable natural resources is threatening to produce a fresh economic crisis, the European Union's environment chief has warned.

Janez Potočnik, the EU commissioner for the environment, linked the current economic crisis gripping the eurozone with potential future crises driven by price spikes in key resources, including energy and raw materials:

"It's very difficult to imagine [lifting Europe out of recession] without growth, and very difficult to imagine growth without competitiveness, and very difficult to be competitive without resource efficiency."

Ham and High

(Click above.

You may be able to enlarge further, with this

link, and then clicking a second time.)

The 'South London Waste Partnership' Domestic Waste Incinerator:

Link to Croydon Today

"CONTROVERSIAL plans for a household waste-burning incinerator will save taxpayers millions and significantly reduce the borough's carbon footprint, waste chiefs have claimed.

"The incinerator earmarked for the Croydon/Sutton border, in Beddington Lane, is expected to burn up to 275,000 tonnes of waste a year currently dumped in landfill at the site."

---

Link to earlier Beddington Lane post.

The Guardian: "How to avoid a repeat of the UK [actually English] riots"

Link to The Guardian

"This was a crisis, but it was one David Cameron felt comfortable with. The two themes of his leadership forged into one: broken society was the diagnosis; "big society" was the cure. To an extent he was right. Fathers, parenting, discipline in schools and a sense of community can shield people from poverty, gangs and rap culture. 

"However, his remedy fails on its most fundamental premise: the state is to blame. It is said that 'big government' had crowded out our sense of responsibility to one another. Yet the location of the riots told a different story. Society hadn't been crowded out by big government; it had been abandoned by the big economy."

[Reposted from Sept.] Pinkham Way: Buggering up Barnet's Cunning Plan

Cunning Plan
- report before LB of Barnet committee here

Fly in the Ointment
- Barnet's dustcart depot, bottom-left of above map

Face like a bulldog chewing a wasp
- Brian Coleman at last night's meeting: report from Mrs Angry

(Click to enlarge images.)
(Last photo: Barnet Bugle.) 

BBC: "London in 2012: Challenging year ahead"

Link to BBC web site

"As far as years go, 2012 has the potential to be about as big as they get for London. In May, Londoners will go to the polls to vote for a mayor, who will continue the role of repairing the damage caused by last summer's riots.

"Meanwhile the Olympics, the Paralympics and the Queen's Diamond Jubilee are set to be defining moments. But are the people in charge of making sure things run smoothly feeling confident about the year ahead?"