Ken Livingstone's campaign to become Mayor of London drew support this morning from the Labour party leader Ed Miliband as he backed the Fare Deal policy with commuters in Croydon
There will be no incinerator at Beddington Lane if Ken Livingstone is elected Mayor of London in May.
As first suggested by Inside Croydon a week ago, the policy announcement was made by Livingstone this morning when he came to Croydon with Labour party leader Ed Miliband to begin his battle bus tour of London’s 32 boroughs.
Livingstone said he was “opposed to any future incineration” in London and that under his mayoralty, waste would be dealt with through anaerobic digestion and that the expensive burning of valuable recyclables would be reduced throughout the capital.
Livingstone said that with the change in policy it would mean that he would turn down the planning application for the Viridor incinerator, a £1 billion construction and 25-year management deal proposed for Beddington Lane on the Croydon-Sutton boundary.
This announcement just before the local Labour party hold a community meeting in Waddon this evening suggests that the opposition in Croydon Council has been working on this issue for a while.
Ed Miliband, the Labour party leader, being questioned while campaigning in Croydon this morning
Livingstone also pledged to return the police officers recently lost from Croydon town centre, as he takes police numbers back to 1,700 more than the numbers under current Mayor Boris Johnson.
He also promised to build the tram extension to Crystal Palace “cancelled by Boris”.
His promise of a 7 per cent fare cut would save Coulsdon residents £1,700 on their commuting tickets to London, Livingstone said.
Asked by Inside Croydon what pensioner voters in the London elections should do after the yesterday’s Budget Granny Tax, Miliband said that they should feel confident that Livingstone would help pensioners through his policy on heating bills and that they should use the 2012 election as an early opportunity to protest their treatment.
Miliband went on to have a meeting with Croydon pensioners in a coffee shop with the national press in tow. No doubt a post-Budget whizzo idea from national Labour party officials, but those present may not have been entirely representative: they were older Labour councillors and Labour activists. Inside Croydon‘s reporters look youthful for their age and were politely asked to leave.
- Inside Croydon: brought to you from the heart of the borough, free of charge, an independent voice standing for freedom of speech for the people of Croydon
Related articles
- Eddie Izzard adds a laugh to Croydon campaigning (insidecroydon.com)
- Miliband joins Livingstone on campaign trail (guardian.co.uk)
- Will Ken promise to block Beddington incinerator scheme? (insidecroydon.com)