In June Darren Johns, Green AM, visited Pinkham Way in north London, the site of a proposed new waste plant and refuse lorry depot. With over a thousand vehicle movements (including many HGVs) a day, the proposed waste plant at Pinkham Way would make air pollution in the area even worse and affect the health of local residents and local schoolchildren. The roads are already some of the most congested in London and residents are right to be concerned about more lorries belching out more fumes. Even without any further traffic increases, a local air quality monitoring station has already recorded 20 bad air days this year and could exceed the legal annual limit of 35 bad air days.
Darren made clear to residents that while it is vital that we have new facilities in London to deal with waste, he does not believe that huge facilities of this size or type are the way forward or appropriate in congested urban areas or close to residential areas. He argued the North London Waste Authority should be putting far more emphasis on encouraging collection of doorstep recycling and food waste, rather than concentrating on large new plant for unsorted black bin waste such as this.
Similar issues are raised by the proposals for more waste processing plants in Park Royal, the Careys plant in Neasden, and the incinerator planned for Brent Cross.
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