By the time you read this post, the seven councils who make up the North London Waste Authority (NLWA) may have signed the contract to build a huge, over-sized new incinerator in Edmonton, committing our own council to burning our unrecycled waste there until at least 2060 and in clear contravention of Islington’s stated goal to reach zero carbon emissions by 2030.
The environmental and health damage this will cause has been spelled out clearly in this newspaper and it’s hard to see how it can be thought acceptable to reduce Islington’s pollution and emissions by simply exporting them to Edmonton.
Islington’s Labour councillors, however, have pressed on regardless, ignoring calls to halt the scheme from the community, doctors, scientists, Jeremy Corbyn and even their own North Constituency Environment Officer (‘Why skirt round the biggest issue?’, 14/1/22).
Green Councillor Caroline Russell’s proposal to pause and the review the project was rejected unanimously by Labour, who ignored her last minute plea to at least reduce its capacity, to lessen the damage, encourage more recycling and reduce overall waste.
Despite declaring a Climate Emergency and setting Net Zero targets, Islington Labour still appear not to understand what these ideas mean.
I would urge voters to remember that fact when they go to the polls for the local elections this May, in the next London elections in 2024, in the next General Election, whenever that happens, and so on and so on. For at least the next forty years…
– Benali Hamdache, Islington Green Party