Campaigners in final bid to stop Croydon incinerator

incineration

Campaigners have until December 9 to apply to the Court of Appeal in a final bid to stop an incinerator being built on the border of Croydon.

 Stop the Incinerator, a campaign group composed of residents, businesses and environmental organisations and fronted by Green Party candidate for Croydon North, Shasha Khan, has been fighting the plan for six years.

The incinerator is to be built in Beddington, Sutton by waste disposal giant Viridor.

Protestors have criticised the “toxic emissions” the plant will generate and the damaging effect this will have on the health of local residents.

However, Viridor have said that the scheme will result in “additional benefits for the local economy”, including the creation of around 40 permanent jobs, hundreds of jobs during construction and wider cascading business opportunities.

Campaigners took their case to the High Court, challenging Viridor’s right to build on “protected” land intended for the creation of Wandle Valley Regional Park, but this culminated in defeat this month.

A second blow came as High Court Judge Mrs Justice Patterson dismissed a judicial review into this decision saying it “had no realistic prospect of success”.

Khan said he is “undeterred” by the latest ruling, insisting that the “fight continues”.

The organisation now has limited time to put together a plea to the Court of Appeal.

Khan said: “As is normal, the High Court judge has refused permission [for a review] and effectively left the issue to the Court of Appeal to decide. We…have the support of our legal team to file our request for permission to appeal in the Court of Appeal.”

“We are working hard in conjunction with Stop the Incinerator to ensure this happens.”

He added: “The only obstacle is finance and whilst we are encouraged by the massive local support for our fundraising campaign we still need more money.”

The activists will hold a demonstration at the next South London Waste Parnership meeting “to remind them that [they] continue to oppose their Incinerator”.

However Viridor insist that concerns about the health of local residents are largely unfounded.

A spokesperson for the company said: “Modern, well-managed incinerators make only a small contribution to local concentrations of air pollutants and any potential health impacts, if they exist, are likely to be very small and not detectable”.

Head of development projects at Viridor, Robert Ryan, added: “This is another milestone in the development of this much needed alternative to landfill disposal in south London. Our state of the art facility will provide a safe, robust, cost-effective and long-term solution to the South London Waste Partnership’s residual waste treatment needs.”

 

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