Ruth Dombey’s relentless drive to have Sutton regarded as the rottenest borough in south London got another boost today, as her Liberal Democrat-run council got yet another dishonourable mention in Private Eye magazine.
The scurrilous satirical fortnightly features on its cover Croydon’s finest, “Sir” Philip Green, the retailing billionaire at the centre of abuse and bullying allegations (The Ed writes: Septimus Grabbit, of our lawyers Sue, Grabbit & Runne, points out that a small army of very well-remunerated lawyers for the south London businessman strenuously deny their client’s involvement in any alleged misconduct. And that they will continue to maintain legal injunctions to stop anyone reporting the allegations for as long as possible, too).
The magazine’s coverage of the Green situation continues inside.
But it is in the Rotten Boroughs column that Dombey, the LibDem leader of Sutton Council, can take pride, as her local authority again features prominently.
Readers of Inside Sutton will be familiar with the details of this latest story.
You read it here first: the Eye’s take on the Incinerator Academy at Hackbridge
Last month, we reported on how Sutton managed to grant planning permission to build the large primary school on Metropolitan Open Land within half a mile of the site of the Beddington Lane incinerator, having commissioned an environmental impact report which failed to mention the incinerator.
It is reckoned that there is no other school in the whole country which has the misfortune to be sited as close to a pollution-spewing incinerator as the primary at Hackbridge.
The incinerator, part paid for by Croydon, is expected to fire up in December, to burn millions of tons of crap, all trucked in by thousands of HGVs each week from across south London and south-east England. According to Sutton’s environmental assessment report submitted when considering the planning application for the school, such industrial activity within 900 metres of the site of the primary will have no impact on air quality in the vicinity.
Parents of the four-to-11-year-olds who attend the Viridor Incinerator Academy may want to insist that the school conducts real-time air quality monitoring, and publish the results on the school website (Viridor won’t be doing such a thing as they are allowed to self-monitor their plant’s emissions). And the parents may also wish to consider careful recording of instances of cases of asthma among the school’s pupils.
We’re quite sure it would be the sort of data which Dombey, MP Tom Brake and Sutton’s other LibDem incinerator enthusiasts would be keen to receive.
Inside Croydon is a member of the Independent Community News Network- Inside Croydon is the borough’s only independent news source. Still here, after eight years, based in the heart of Croydon
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