Fears over health risks and increased pollution have been dismissed by council planners who have backed plans to burn tonnes of waste on your doorstep.

Controversial plans to build an incinerator in Beddington were backed by Sutton Council planning officers this week.

Councillors are now expected to give the plans the green light next Wednesday, with even campaigners saying that the plan's approval is "inevitable".

If built, the energy recovery facility (ERF) will burn rubbish for the South London Waste Partnership, made up of Sutton, Croydon, Kingston and Merton councils, and covert it into energy. Waste management company Viridor wants to build the plant and says it will cause an increase in pollution of less than one per cent and save millions in landfill tax while freeing up space for a park to be built.

But campaigners fear the plant will produce harmful emissions which could cause cancer and infertility, claims the council and Viridor say are not true.

They say there are no grounds to refuse the application at a meeting of Sutton Council's development control committee next week on the grounds of emissions or traffic concerns - two areas campaigners are concerned about.

Campaigners have predicted, as recycling rates increase, rubbish will need to be brought from outside the four boroughs to keep the incinerator burning at maximum capacity.

Viridor has denied this will ever be the case and say fewer journeys would be made by rubbish trucks to the area than to the current landfill site.

Dave Pettener, a member of the Stop the Incinerator campaign group said: "I'm not surprised by the recommendation, it feels like an inevitability that the incinerator will be built.

"From an emissions point of view, the cup is already full - the area is already badly polluted. They say the emissions are negligible, but if that's the case why do they need a 95m chimney?"

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Stop the Incinerator Campaigners at a Sutton Council meeting last month

Beddington North Councillor John Keys, who defected from the Liberal Democrats to Labour when the Lib Dems backed the incinerator last year, said: "I'm not surprised they want to go ahead with this because the Lid Dems have said from the start they want it to go ahead.

"There's all manner of things they need to consider that I don't feel they have looked at. Air quality will be affected, in other countries there have been issues around infant deaths - not enough research has been done here into infant deaths."

Sutton's Conservatives have also spoken out against the plans. Tory Coun Tony Shields said: "I have profound and grave misgivings about the long term health effects of this plan.

"Beddington lane is already at maximum capacity and this will only mean gridlock."

Carshalton and Wallington MP Tom Brake, a Liberal Democrat, has cautiously given the plans his backing. He said: "My position is that I'm in favour of the principal of the ERF from a technological point of view - there isn't any alternative.

"Clearly there are outstanding issues regarding emissions and transport and I'm pressing hard to make sure the highest possible environmental standards are kept."

If planning permission is granted, the plant could be operational by 2017.

The Beddington Lane landfill site would be decommissioned and converted into a nature park.

The proposed site is classed at 'metropolitan open land' meaning anyone who builds on it must provide exceptional mitigation.

To this end, Viridor has pledged to provide wildlife habitats, an education centre and a warden for the park, which will become part of the Wandle Valley Regional Park.

Council planning officers say they are satisfied with the proposed measures. If approved by Sutton Council, Mayor of London Boris Johnson, who has raised some concerns about the facility in the past, could still step in and block the application.

Sutton Council's development control committee will decide on the application in a meeting from 8pm on Wednesday, April 24, in the Europa Gallery at Sutton Library in St Nicholas Way.

Members of the public are welcome to attend.

Where the proposed incinerator will be located

 

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