Incinerator (ERF)

Planning Permission for the Incineration (ERF) was passed on 15 May 2013 at the Development Control Committee Meeting.

agreed visual of incinerator with 95m towers

This decision was made after a deferral from the meeting on 24 April 2013. There were many individual speakers, including representation from the NDG, Beddington Farmlands Bird Group and our neighbours the Beddington Residents Association giving well thought out and researched reasons for not having an incinerator. Most people felt that their questions that were directly related to what they could talk about on the night, were not answered and that the two week period of deferral did not give enough time to provide councillors with appropriate information. Councillors also ignored multiple requests from local representatives to discuss their concerns during the deferral period.

Local environmental and social groups objected to the incinerator on planning policy grounds which included a conflict with 1) the London Plan Policy 7.17, 2) the Core Planning Strategy Policy PMP9 and 3) The current Beddington Farmlands Conservation Management Plan and conditions set out in the 1995 (amended 2005) planning applications. These planning policies and planning permission conditions are in place to protect Metropolitan Open Land, to promote the development of the Wandle Valley Regional Park and to develop London Biodiversity Action Plan Habitats at Beddington Farmlands.

The definition of MOL below is very clear and the exceptional circumstances which were presented by the planning officers are controversial and most importantly the s106 and mitigation measures to mitigate for over-riding the current protection are inadequate as there has been no agreement with any of the local social and environmental groups

“Metropolitan Open Land” or “MOL”

is a term or designation used only within London. Land designated MOL is afforded the same level of protection as the Green Belt. Designation is intended to protect areas of landscape, recreation, nature conservation and scientific interest which are strategically important. Consequently any development of any kind on MOL must not only both be what is regarded as appropriate in the same way as Green Belt but the planning permission to carry it out cannot be granted by a London Borough acting alone, but requires the concurrence of the Mayor of London and the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.

Mitigation Measures

What some people might not know is that part of any planning process requires Section 106 or the new CIL obligations to the community to be agreed before any building commences.

The incinerator is a multi-million pound project and the mitigation costs they put forward does not even equal 1% of this and there has been no agreement of the mitigation package with the local social and environmental groups. In the past, Viridor have agreed to mitigation costs for the current landfill site, but these have still not been met so community leaders have called for Viridor to meet their previous obligations and for any future obligations to be subject to robust legal agreements.

Beddington Farmlands has one of the most important colonies of Tree Sparrows in the UK (pic 1). How will the incinerator really affect the wildlife and are the mitigation measures enough to protect them?

What you can do now

If you oppose to the building of the incinerator and the inadequate mitigation measures, let the Mayor of London and the Environmental Agency know now. All you need to do is to email them.

One of the Mayor’s duties when considering the application at this second stage is to consider the scale of local opposition, and when the time comes to reporting the case to the Mayor, officers will explain in further detail the scale of the local opposition to the proposed development.

It is therefore important that we get as many responses to them as possible to let them know that we want a proper say what goes on in our neighbourhood and all our questions answered properly.

You can e-mail to mayor@london.gov.uk and the Environment Agency at psc@environment-agency.gov.uk

The NDG’s response to the proposed incinerator and revisions can be found below:-

Beddington Farmlands Bird Group responses can be viewed below

Viridor’s revisions to the ERF planning application can be viewed here. The three week consultation period ran from 1 March to 22 March 2013.

Other useful information:-