Monster Incinerator
    Public Meeting in Hounslow, May 04

Note. This was written in June 04. For latest situation see campaign and latest news.

Will councillors in West London boroughs succumb to lobbying?

Grundon incinerator

Slough Council has agreed to a monster incin erator 130 feet high with a chimney 240 feet high, towering over the Green Belt. The site is at Colnebrook, near to Heathrow and adjacent to an existing clinical waste incinerator.See background information.

Grundon, the operator of the incinerator, has been lobbying councillors in West London boroughs to try and get them to sign contacts that would commit them to burning huge quantities of waste for the next 20 years. Otherwise construction of the incinerator may not be viable.

The incinerator would increase air pollution in West London, which in some places already breaches the standards set to protect human health. It would also undermine attempts by boroughs to reduce the volume of waste and the amount of recycling.

Press Release - 28th May 2004

MONSTER INCINERATOR THREAT - PUBLIC MEETING

Councillors from West London boroughs are being urged to agree contracts to burn huge quantities of waste. Grundon is planning to build a mass-burn incinerator at Colnebrook with a capacity of 440,000 tonnes of waste. It has approached West London Waste Authority [note] for a twenty year contract to burn municipal waste. Without this, the incinerator is unlikely to be economic and would therefore not be built.

A public meeting will be held at the Civic Centre, Lampton Road, Hounslow at 7.30 p.m. on Wed 7th July 2004. The meeting will address rising public concern in West London over the planned incinerator, close to Heathrow Airport and adding to the burden of air pollution in West London.

The meeting will include speakers from Friends of the Earth, Slough Anti Incinerator Network (SAIN) and others opposed to incineration. They will explain their objections and show how the need for incineration could be avoided if more effort was put into waste reduction and recycling.

Dr Jerry Thompson, a GP from Slough, has raised a petition of 25 GPs in Slough objecting to the incinerator on health grounds. He will spell out the dangers of further emissions in the West London area.

Margaret Salasidis, waste campaigner for West London Friends of the Earth, said "The people of West London have more than their fair share of air pollution from heavy road and air traffic. The last thing we need is an incinerator which will pour a cocktail of emissions into an already over-burdened atmosphere. The West London Waste Authority must look to more sustainable and less dangerous ways of dealing with waste."

Note: West London Waste Authority has the responsibility to dispose of the waste from households for the boroughs of Hounslow, Ealing, Richmond, Brent, Harrow and Hillingdon.

Links to Related Pages