Protestors handcuff themselves to Croydon Town Hall railing during incinerator meeting
TWO protesters handcuffed themselves to a railing in the Town Hall this evening after the public were asked to leave a meeting on plans which may see a waste incinerator built on the Croydon/Sutton border.
Green Party spokesman Shasha Khan and Croydon resident Dave Pettener refused to leave the council chamber after the scrutiny and overview committee decided to discuss the choice of a preferred bidder for the South London Waste Partnership (SWLP) in secret.
The pair revealed handcuffs and chained themselves to a railing in the public gallery after committee chairman Steve Hollands rejected an attempt by Labour councillors to have the issue discussed in the open.
But their hopes of disrupting the meeting were dashed when the committee simply moved to another room to address the matter in camera.
Mr Khan told the Advertiser: "This is about people being denied the basic right to know what is going on in the area in which they live.
"People do not know what is happening and they won't know until the issue is discussed in the open.
"Instead the council has adopted the principle of 'what they don't know, won't hurt them' and a decision which will have a long-lasting impact on people's lives is being made without any proper public consultation."
Mr Pettener said: "This is a ridiculous thing to do, I know that. I don't want to be wasting people's time but I feel like I have absolutely no other recourse.
"I have had councillors laugh in my face about the health concerns associated with this incinerator but most of them don't even live in the area.
"I do, so this is my life they're talking about."
Last month, during a secret cabinet session, Croydon Council picked a preferred bidder for the SWLP, bringing it into line with its partners Sutton, Merton and Kingston.
Labour "called in" the decision, prompted by anger at the lack of consultation into a plan which has been widely reported to include building an incinerator in Beddington Lane.
The issue was due to be discussed behind closed doors in Part B of the resulting scrutiny meeting this evening.
Labour councillor Sean Fitzsimons asked Cllr Hollands if some of the discussion could take place in public.
He said: "I understand there are issues which can't be in public because of legal constraints but a number of councillors were able to speak of the subject at last night's council meeting and as far as I am aware some of the things people were saying were not in breach of confidential information.
"Also, not everything which will be discussed in Part B will be a confidential item.
"This decision will have a major impact on the town over the years and involves a significant amount of money. I would ask that we have the chance to have a public discussion about it."
West Thornton Cllr Bernadette Khan added: "It's in the public interest that we have things open and more transparent given the impact this plan will have on the quality of life of residents in Croydon."
Cllr Hollands replied: "The advice we have been given is that the report should be taken in camera and I am quite comfortable with this.
"I believe there will be an opportunity at a later time to have a debate about the way Croydon residents will dispose of their waste."
Mr Khan said he knew the issue would end up being discussed in private so had come prepared to make a point.
He added: "I didn't feel comfortable about doing this. I was very nervous and my wife was worried.
"But if the council isn't going to listen then we have to make a stand."
Leaked reports have suggested SWLP proposals include an energy to waste facility, interpreted by critics as an incinerator.
It is argued that building such a facility in Beddington Lane would have a significant impact on thousands of nearby households, as prevailing winds would blow any pollution Croydon's way.
The Advertiser understands the protestors ended their peaceful protest of their own accord earlier this evening.
15 Comments
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by nicecityboy
Wednesday, January 11 2012, 4:06PM
“Shasha Khan, seems like we are all doomed based on what you are saying.
The incinerator might help the smell around beddington lane, at the moment there is a whiff of the sewerage plant.
I suggest you take off those handcuffs and accept initiatives like this, made by politicians, for politicians. I suspect if your party were to be taken seriously enough to win enough votes to get elected, you too would come up with these "less than ideal" solutions in order to cut costs during these times of austerity.”
by Shasha_Khan
Sunday, December 18 2011, 8:14PM
“@Ivor_Shed and CharlesEddy1. I concede, it is incredibly difficult to get ones head around this issue.
The writer of the NonIncineratorForCroydon blog (not me in case you're wondering) was the first person to realise that the desired outcome of this procurement and consultation process was an incinerator in Beddington. He predicted this back in 2008. He also told us about the health effects:- KEY POINT NO. 1: for the dioxins to broken down safely the incinerator needs to operate at 1400+ degrees C, normally using plasma arc technology. I very much doubt that the incinerator proposed will operate at such a high temperature because it is not economically viable.
I too have read the HPA Paper that CharlesEddy1 refers to. I hope you agree with me that the Paper using phrases like, 'it is not possible to rule out adverse effects' doesn't inspire confidence.
KEY POINT NO.2: This year the tax on sending biodegradable waste to landfill is £56 per tonne. Over the next three years it will rise by £8 per tonne, per year. The projected bill if waste is not diverted away from landfill is just too high for a council to contemplate. Similarly, the waste industry hierarchy of profitablity means that incineration is better on 'the bottom line' than recycling.
KEY POINT NO. 3: It has now been officially announced that the lifetime of the waste contract is 25 years. Future generations will be banging their heads against the chimney of the incinerator wondering how an earth a contract for 25 years could be awarded, especially when the population of the planet approaches 9 billion towards the middle of the century. Waste will be a valuable resource - everything will have to reduced, reused or recycled BUT here in South London we will be burning the waste.
KEY POINT NO.4: Beddington Lane is a socially deprived area of Sutton, a sort of nomansland between Sutton and Croydon. As one Tory Councillor in Merton told us, if they tried to build an incinerator in Wimbledon Village they would be facing £100 million lawsuit.
KEY POINT NO.5 If our concerns are misplaced, then Lib Dem, Tory and Labour campaigners who are fighting similar incinerators across the country (60 in total) are also misplaced. Please contact Councillor Whitham the leader of the Conservative opposition group on Sutton Council and ask him, why he has gone on record saying he has "grave concerns" about the waste facility. [Go back to KEY POINT 2 - each party in power is in favour because of the projected landfill tax bill].
I hope this helps.”
by Ivor_Shed
Saturday, December 10 2011, 8:08AM
“More facts please - when these incinerators burn waste do they use energy or generate energy?”
by Ivor_Shed
Friday, December 09 2011, 5:48PM
“No1 Enoch - quite right, at the moment we are in our French house, although having lived for 60 years in Mitcham/Coulsdon/Croydon and owning a property in Forestdale might entitle me to an opinion don't you think?
Not only an opinion of Croydon but something real to compare it against. Surprising?
I'm sure the 'stop the incinerator website' will have 'evidence' to say how detrimental to health they are, but the 'stop the landfill' website will have plenty of counter arguments. The answer is partly in our hands (or our bins) - if there isn't enough rubbish to burn then building and operating an incinerator makes no commercial sense.”
by CharlesEddy1
Friday, December 09 2011, 2:36PM
“I've read Mr Khan's various blogs on the issue of an incinerator and also the Green Party's national website. The national website appears to be opposed on the basis that incinerators/energy from waste etc plants discourage people from recycling and so harm the chances of Britain ever having a zero waste policy (where everything is recycled and re-used).
I cannot find any mention on the national Green Party website of anything to do with fumes, smoke, health hazards etc.
What I did find elsewhere was a report from the Health Protection Agency that said they proposed no threat to public health.
I looked into this further by 'cutting and pasting' some information from Mr Khan's blog and then putting it back into Google. It appears to be sourced from a report on incineration that dates back some years.
I wonder who is trying to pull the wool over who's eyes on this subject? What I and many others would like are the facts - not misinformation from the people who are at polar opposites on an important issue.”
by Jimabc
Friday, December 09 2011, 2:31PM
“Well done Shasha!
It's the health effects I'm most worried about although it's also wasteful to burn stuff that should be recycled. The Stop The Incinerator website has an excellent report, The Health Effects of Waste Incinerators by the British Society for Ecological Medicine. It says children and infants are the most vulnerable to all sorts of health effects including cancer and that pollutants can affect later generations as shown in animal tests.
But councils are barely required to do any monitoring and most plants are built in the poorest areas where the effects are most pronounced.
Nicecityboy is mistaken to say the argumenyt is nimby. I wouldn't want anyone anywhere to have to live near one of these.”
by The_Third_Eye
Friday, December 09 2011, 9:38AM
“These contracts tend to go to the companies that have given the biggest brown envelope.”
by LAFANTASTICA
Wednesday, December 07 2011, 9:40PM
“Naughty spoiled little boys.”
by Brendan_Walsh
Wednesday, December 07 2011, 8:51PM
“No, the protestors never say that it should be put somewhere else but that it isn't required. It's a quick-fix, easy-money project, being pushed through by Virador. The Council should be working on a long term strategy to reduce waste rather than encourage it, which this incinerator would do. London already has a £300 million air pollution fine hanging over it's head due to short term thinking like this. £300 million, 32 London Boroughs of which Croydon is the second largest. Looks like £10million extra on our Council Tax to me and that's before we start importing rubbish from around the country to feed this thing.”
by nicecityboy
Wednesday, December 07 2011, 1:04PM
“The word NIMBY comes to mind with this argument.”