We are campaigning against the new incinerator in Edmonton, North London, which the 7 North London councils are planning to build with the North London Waste Authority (NLWA) - spewing up to 700,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases a year for decades to come, as if we weren't in a climate emergency.

To my horror, the NLWA, together with the government’s department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) recently announced that BEIS would be awarding close to £28million worth of funding to Haringey Council for a district heating scheme in the borough of Haringey where I live. The plan is for the heating to be piped from the new incinerator planned in Edmonton, Enfield.

This decision was taken without any consultation with Haringey residents.

Worse still, the heating produced from the incinerator is more carbon-intensive than gas. The district heating scheme will therefore commit Haringey to dirty, non-renewable energy from the incinerator for decades to come, as once installed, it will prove impossible to upgrade with low-carbon heating.  

The incinerator will also require constant ‘feeding’ of waste to burn effectively and produce energy. Consequently, it will scupper plans to decarbonise Haringey and London’s energy and hamper all efforts for waste prevention and recycling- quite the opposite, it will require a continual supply of waste from across North London and maybe further afield. Burning waste and truck movement will exacerbate air pollution for communities in Haringey and surrounding boroughs, especially in Enfield and Waltham Forest.

I want Haringey and BEIS to come clean and provide us with all the documentation related to the disastrous decision to award funding for this heating scheme, and to explain why residents weren’t consulted.

Can you contribute to our initial goal of £6000 for our lawyers at Leigh Day to secure these documents by corresponding with BEIS, Haringey and NWLA and to advise on next steps, before we decide whether to move to challenging the decision?

It’s just not right that the government should be funding infrastructure that locks us into pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.

For residents of Haringey, it’s our heating after all. For residents of North London, it’s our waste, our air. And for all of us, it’s our climate and our future that’s at stake. 

Please contribute if you possibly can and share widely. Thank you.