Belvedere Incinerator

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The Belvedere Incinerator is a proposed incineration facility in Bexley managing waste from the Western Riverside Waste Authority and other local authorities in London with a capacity of 575,000 tonnes waste per annum. A plant processing twice the waste capacity was initially proposed 15 years ago by Cory Environmental and has undergone significant planning delays. It is close to the site of the former oil-fired Belvedere Power Station, which was decommissioned in the 1980s; this is now the 60-acre Isis Reach industrial park.

The facility was finally given permission by the Department of Trade and Industry for constructing to begin in June 2006,^[1] in spite of widespread local opposition. Within a few weeks of the decision being made, a petition organised by the local community and local Councillors and signed by 5,000 people was delivered to Downing Street to highlight to the Prime Minsiter the local opposition to the Government's decision. ^[2] ^[3] Local Councillor and Norman Road, Belvedere, resident David Leaf also tabled a Council motion for discussion at the Bexley Council meeting following the Government's decision. ^[4]

Bexley Council, along with Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London attempted to block the plans by forcing a judicial review of the development. On January 4 th, 2007 the judge presiding on the case dismissed the challenge and the incinerator was given the go ahead to build within the next 3 years.^[5] However, Bexley Council and Ken Livingstone again challenged the construction of the incinerator on the basis that it was energy inefficient as it did not utilize the waste heat from the incineration process and was thus not in London's best interests.^[6] In February 2007, Bexley Council and the Mayor of London yet again pursued for the prevention of the construction of the Belvedere Incinerator in High Court of Justice in London.^[7]

[edit] Local opposition

The incinerator is strongly opposed by the a proportion of the local population, via the local action group BADAIR^[8], local Conservative Councillors, and the local council. Local Conservatives have also expressed concerns over the Government's changes to the planning system and waste management system that could make incinerator builder and the expansion of the Belvedere site more likely, ^[9] have highlighted that the Government have been pressing for waste incineration to avoid paying substantial EU fines, ^[10] and revealed Cory's influence in writing the Labour Government's waste and planning policies, ^[11]

Opposition centres round the possibility of emissions from the incinerator, which add to the local concerns about existing industrial risks in lower Belvedere. There has been a long standing dispute with Thames Water about the smell from the sewage works and the ineffectiveness of attempts to force an end to these adds to local concerns regarding fumes. A further concern raised is that while Bexley Borough has one of the best recycling records in London, this will be offset by the fact that other boroughs wil be evading recycling by having their refuse incinerated in Bexley.

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