At a meeting of the West London Waste Authority on 17 September, councillors from the six member boroughs voted for a compromise.

In a press release, the Slough Anti-Incineration Network (SAIN) stated:

"The chief executive officer of West London Waste, Mike Nicholls, and the technical advisor, David Streeter, have been pushing councillors to agree to a long-term contract to burn 100,000 tones of waste a year for 20 years in the proposed new incinerator a Colnbrook, near Slough.

"But the councillors agreed to go out to tender to dispose of 100,000 tonnes of waste for a shorter period, and this would specifically invite offers for newer and more environmentally friendly technologies than incineration.

"Bill Perry, campaigner for SAIN, said 'This represents a sensible compromise. We are still very unhappy about West London Waste signing contracts before they have even drafted their waste strategy. But they are now embracing more sustainable methods of waste - methods which avoid the air pollution and health risks associated with incineration.'

The councillors on West London Waste voted as follows:

In favour of compromise contract: Valerie Lamey (Hounslow, Labour); John Delaney (Ealing, Labour); Lesley Jones (Brent, Labour); Alan Blann (Harrow, Labour).

In favour of incineration: Routledge (Hillingdon, Conservative) David Marlow (Richmond, Conservative)

Margaret Salasidis, waste campaigner for West London Friends of the Earth, commented "We have recently heard a major speech by Tony Blair where he talked about the huge threat of climate change. But the proposed incinerator at Colnbrook would pump out vast quantities of greenhouse gases, accelerating climate change. Perhaps some at least some of the councillors were mindful of his comments when they took the vote on Friday."

The group made a presentation to Richmond's Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee, where majority councillors felt that as the incinerator would be able to find plenty of business anyway, the local authority would be as well to be one of the customers supplying waste to it.

Margaret Salasdis made the point that with high levels of road traffic and pollution from Heathrow, the further addition of pollution in westerly winds from an incinerator in Slough could lead to unprecedent threats to air quality over Richmond, especially as monitoring was not continuous.

See the report to Richmond's Environment O & S Committee (item 22)
See the agenda and reports from the West London Waste Authority

Tuesday, September 21, 2004

If you wish to comment on this or other stories in the Journal please go to our Letters Pages

The Journal is produced as a service to the Community by Online Communities Ltd
an independent, non-profit, community group making the community websites for Richmond upon Thames.


www.oncom.org.uk

© 2004 Online Communities Ltd