TONY NEWMAN, the leader of the Labour opposition group on Croydon Council, says that he will use every legal power available to stop a £1 billion Viridor incinerator project being developed on the borders of the borough at Beddington Lane

Croydon Labour leader Tony Newman: opposed to incinerator

Just a few weeks after the planning committee in Sutton refused to pass council officials’ strong recommendation to inflict an incinerator upon us all, with the backing of Croydon’s Tory-run council, they are shamelessly bringing it straight back to the same committee next week, on May 15.

Bringing the matter back so swiftly, with no answers as to how the traffic pollution will be addressed or how the risks to public health will be answered, could deliver a decision that will blight the lives of tens of thousands of residents for the next quarter of a century, without the matter ever being put before the people.

Let me be crystal clear: an incoming Labour council in Croydon next May will use every legal power at our disposal to stop this incinerator being inflicted upon us, and we will work with politicians of any other political party, and none, to achieve our shared ends.

This incinerator is being offered by Croydon Tories as a solution to how we dispose of local waste, yet they have been forced to admit, their incinerator will be burning waste brought in from across London and Surrey for a minimum of the next 25 years.

In 2010, at the last local elections, Croydon Tories pledged they would never inflict an incinerator upon us. Not only have they betrayed the people on that promise, but along with other councils who should hang their heads in shame, they have colluded make Croydon the waste dumping ground for all of south London and beyond for generations to come.

At Sutton’s hastily reconvened planning committee next week, those who back the incinerator may win a battle, but the war to achieve a green and sustainable future for Croydon will continue until the people’s voice has been heard.

• Here’s some earlier Inside Croydon articles, with the background and news, from the Greens and Conservative parties, on the Viridor Incinerator project:

• £1bn incinerator “replay” meeting hurriedly set-up for May 15
• Sutton official tried to influence vote at incinerator meeting
• Burnt: incinerator scheme fails to get planning permission
• What a waste: Croydon recycles arguments against incinerator
• Infant death rates on the rise where incinerators operate
• Tories Fisher and Barwell told to get off their “fat arses”
• Newman calls on Merton to honour Ken’s incinerator pledge

• Inside Croydon: For comment and analysis about Croydon, from inside Croydon – 267,670 page views (Nov 2012-Apr 2013)
  
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