Local Green issues campaigner Gordon Ross is appealing to residents to write to Boris Johnson and to Sutton Council to express their opposition to the proposed South London Waste Incinerator.

Viridor is working on a contract with four councils, worth £1 billion, which depends on the area re-cycling less and burning waste in an incinerator

In a letter circulating the borough, Ross writes, “I’m contacting you on behalf of Stop the South London Incinerator Campaign, a voluntary group made up of local residents, businesses, environmental campaigners and members from the Green Party, Labour and Conservative parties.”

In his letter, Ross explains that “plans have been submitted to Sutton Council to build an incinerator on Beddington Lane that will burn 300,000 tonnes of rubbish every year for the next 30 years. Air pollution knows no boundaries and so we will all be affected by this plan.

“Our main objections to incineration:

• It is a fact that we don’t need an incinerator: studies have shown most rubbish can be recycled or re-used if the facilities are provided. Any waste left over can be treated in safer ways than burning it.
• Burning rubbish produces toxic emissions known to cause birth defects, raised infant mortality rates, breathing problems and cancer. The rubbish will not be sorted before it goes in which means all sorts of hazardous and radioactive waste could get burned.
• There will be an increase in traffic congestion, noise and pollution from all the lorries bringing the rubbish in. The World Health Organisation has confirmed the link between diesel fumes and cancer.
• It is a fact that there is not enough local rubbish to go in the incinerator, which means waste will have to be imported from elsewhere. We will end up being the rubbish dump of Southern England.
• You will hear claims that the Energy Recovery Facility, as they call it, provides renewable, green energy. This is not true. It produces more carbon emissions per unit of energy than a traditional power station.
• Why it is going ahead? The simple answer is the councils involved are putting wealth before health.”

Gordon Ross: councils are putting wealth ahead of health with the incinerator

Ross asks for residents to write now to Sutton Council planning department at developmentcontrol@sutton.gov.uk , and to the Mayor of London at mayor@london.gov.uk telling them you oppose the Beddington Lane Incinerator.

“Feel free to use the reasons listed above in your objection. Please get your friends, family and co-workers to write, too,” he says, adding that further ways to lobby against the incinerator include:

• Write to your local councillors, London Assembly members, MP and MEP’s, who can be found at http://www.writetothem.com/
• Please sign our petition which can be found on our web site: http://www.stoptheincinerator.co.uk

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