A general view of Edmonton EcoPark waste incinerator
(Picture: Getty Images)A woman is taking legal action in order to block the expansion of a rubbish incinerator in North London.
Dorothea Hackman, 69, is the claimant of a new judicial review into the award of a £755 million contract to replace and extend the electricity from waste incinerator in Edmonton.
Ms Hackman who is head of the Camden civic society, claimed it would be better to burn coal than continue to burn plastic for energy at the North London plant.
She told The Guardian: “It’s sort of like buying a bigger digger for these boys.
“I’ve just bought a bigger digger for my two-year-old grandson, he was ecstatic.
“This is what the Edmonton incinerator reminds me of. They’ve got one that pollutes, and should be replaced, but what it should be replaced with is a state-of-the-art recycling centre.”
In a letter to the North London Waste Authority (NLWA), who approved the construction, Ms Hackman claims members of the board were misled.
The NLWA, which is made up of councillors from Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Hackney, Haringey, Islington, and Waltham Forest approved the contract for Acciona and Hitachi Zosen to build the new plant last December.
But Ms Hackman claims the carbon screening report given to the board did not give an accurate picture of the 683,000 tonnes of waste processed a year.
The incinerator opened in 1971, is the oldest in the country and is set to go out of service in its current form in 2025.
Despite Ms Hackman’s complaint, the NWLA said the proposed new project will be one of the safest and cleanest in the UK.
The group also pointed to research by Imperial College London which found no link between exposure to emissions from waste and infant deaths.
The new project they said, also includes £100million for the construction of new recycling centres.
A NWLA spokesperson told the Standard: “North London Waste Authority stands by the validity of the decision to enter into a contract with Acciona for a new energy recovery facility.
“We are entirely satisfied that the decision our Members took on 16 December 2021 was the right one and was properly taken.
“This is a world-class infrastructure project that presents the best environmental, technical and economic solution to the treatment of waste in North London”.
The Standard has approached Enfield council for comment.
