Bid to drop council’s incinerator support fails

A last-ditch call for Haringey Council to drop its support for the controversial new Edmonton incinerator project was rejected last night.

Labour councillors refused to back demands from opposition Liberal Democrats to pause and review the scheme during a full council meeting on Monday (17th January).

Instead, Labour pledged to make efforts to boost recycling and speed up the use of carbon capture technology to reduce the new plant’s environmental impact.

North London Waste Authority (NLWA) agreed in December to award the contract to build the new incinerator to Spanish firm Acciona. It came despite ongoing protests and a call from a group of MPs to halt the expansion of new waste incineration plants to protect people’s health and guard against climate change.

The vote to sign the construction deal took place during a meeting of the NLWA board, which is formed of 14 councillors from Haringey, Enfield, Barnet, Camden, Hackney, Islington and Waltham Forest borough councils. Haringey’s delegates were the only ones to not vote for the deal.

Liberal Democrat councillors had hoped to debate the incinerator before the NLWA meeting and accused Labour of filibustering when their motion was not heard during a full council meeting on 22nd November. Council leader Peray Ahmet subsequently wrote to NLWA on 30th November asking it to consider a pause and review of the project.

During Monday’s meeting, Liberal Democrat councillor Scott Emery warned over the impact of increased air pollution on areas of deprivation in north-east London as he introduced his motion to withdraw support for the scheme.

He claimed building the new incinerator in the area was a “disastrous idea” that would cause “long-term harm to residents”, raising the prospect that waste could be imported from other areas to be burnt at the plant.

NLWA says the new Edmonton plant will make use of the latest technology to cut pollutants. But Cllr Emery warned it would still produce “ultra-fine particulate matter”, which he said can be “extremely damaging to our health”.

Seconding the motion, Lib Dem colleague Tammy Palmer said climate change was a social justice issue and accused Labour of hypocrisy for backing an incinerator she claimed would “devastate our poorest communities”, despite the council having declared a climate emergency.

Cllr Ahmet removed the call for a pause and review and made further amendments to the motion that she said would “formally note our commitment to holding the Edmonton facility to the highest environmental standards”.

She added: “We will campaign for the NLWA to accelerate the carbon capture and storage element of the plans, which will massively reduce the amount of carbon released from the plant.”

Describing London’s recycling rate as “unsustainably low”, Cllr Ahmet added that the council would seek to boost recycling and “build a less-waste, more circular economy”.

Labour colleague Dana Carlin told the meeting the council had “stood up and said there should have been a pause and review” of the scheme, but following the NLWA’s decision it would now work with other London authorities to increase recycling.

There were only 21 Labour councillors present at the meeting out of a total of 41 on Haringey Council, which Cllr Ahmet attributed to the ongoing risk posed by the Covid-19 pandemic. Following a debate lasting almost an hour, 20 Labour members voted for the amendment tabled by Cllr Ahmet, with one abstention.

But before the amended motion could be put to a vote, Cllr Emery proposed a new amendment calling on the council to drop its support for the project until a formal review had been carried out. It sparked confusion among Labour members, who questioned whether voting on the amendment would be in line with the council’s constitution.

After monitoring officer Fiona Alderman confirmed the amendment could be put to a vote, 20 Labour councillors voted against and one abstained, with the 15 Lib Dems voting in favour. The same 20 Labour councillors then voted for the motion as amended by Cllr Ahmet, with one abstaining.

Construction of the new incinerator is due to begin by the middle of the year, with work to prepare the site having been finished early last year.