Good to see Her Maj, at the ripe old age of 88 and despite being busy preparing to celebrate her official birthday over the weekend, sticking up for the little fella.

The Stop The Incinerator Campaign today received the formal notice to confirm that “the Queen, on the application of Shasha Khan…” would permit the case against the building of a waste incinerator on Beddington Lane to be heard in court, the decision all signed on her behalf by a High Court judge.

Sutton Council and Viridor, the incinerator operators given a £1 billion contract by the South London Waste Partnership – which includes Croydon Council – had lined up a bevy of briefs to contest the application for a judicial review, but the judge ruled that there is a case. Mr Justice Collins rejected the council and Viridor’s objections to the review in four points out of five.

“Despite powerful opposition by the council and developers, a senior planning court judge has recognised the strength of the case not to grant planning permission to burn waste on a site which is a haven for wildlife and migrating birds,” said Sue Willman, the solicitor at Deighton Pierce Glynn acting on behalf of Croydon resident Shasha Khan.

Mr Justice Collins decided the case should indeed be argued in court: “The possible conflict of interest in the defendant’s roles and the contractual relationship is all too obvious.”

The hearing is expected to go ahead in October.

Khan is challenging the planning permission for the incinerator to be built on land earmarked for London’s newest country park on the basis that Sutton has made a serious error by applying the wrong policy to the incinerator, and that they were unduly influenced by their contractual relationship with the developer Viridor.

Sutton is one of four boroughs in London who signed up to a contract with Viridor in November 2012 to build the incinerator at Beddington. The development was then given planning permission despite it being on Metropolitan Open Land (the equivalent of Green Belt) and despite it being safeguarded by Sutton themselves to become part of the Wandle Valley Regional Park.

Large areas of the north of Croydon stand downwind of the Beddington Lane site, with the ensuing air quality and health issues created, while the massive quantities of waste needed to keep the incinerator burning, day-in, day-out for its planned 25-year operation, would likely see large HGVs driving to the site from across south-east England, up the A23 through Coulsdon and Purley.

“I am so grateful for the hundreds of small donations to finance this case from members of the public like me who want parks for their kids, not waste incinerators,” Khan said.

• For Inside Croydon’s archive of coverage on the Beddington Lane incinerator, click here
• For more on the Stop the Incinerator Campaign and to contribute to the legal fighting fund, click here

Coming to Croydon

• Norwood Society Talk: The Concrete Church, June 19
• David Lean Cinema: Suzanne, June 19
• Airport House swing dance free event, June 21
• Classic Car Show at Purley Rotary Fields, June 22
• David Lean Cinema: Feet from Stardom, June 23
• Crystal Palace Overground Festival, June 26-29
• David Lean Cinema: The Lunchbox, June 26
• Warnings to the Curious, Spread Eagle Theatre, June 27
• St Peter’s Village Fayre, South Croydon, June 28
• South Norwood Allotments open day, June 28
• Fragile, Spread Eagle Theatre, July 24-26
• Coast to Capital business briefing, July 4
• CODA’s Midsummer Night’s Dream at Wandle Park, Jul 30-Aug 2
• Elm Tree Cottage garden open day, Aug 10
• Norwood Society Talk: War Memorials, Sep 18
• Norwood Society Talk: From Fire Station to Theatre, Oct 16
• Norwood Society Talk: Lambeth’s Archives, Nov 20

Inside Croydon: Croydon’s only independent news source, based in the heart of the borough: 72,342 average monthly page views (Jan-Mar 2014)

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