Brent Green Party Submission to Ealing Council

FROM: BRENT GREEN PARTY

TO: Ealing Planning Dept, 13 November 2012

Further to the consultation letter from Ealing Council regarding the Planning Application Ref. PP/2012/3267 at Channel Gate Road, Park Royal, Brent Green Party submits this OBJECTION:

CONTEXT

Brent Green Party is concerned about the negative environmental impact of the major part of the planning application, relating to the pyrolysis plant. We do not have equal objection to the anaerobic digestion part of the plant, since we recognise the potential benefit of utilizing CH4 released by biomass for energy rather than putting it in landfill, where it would be released anyway, contributing to climate change.

However, we cannot support the application taken as a whole and state our OBJECTIONS here:

AIR QUALITY

-         Insufficient modelling of potential air quality impacts and their assessment and foreclosure of the need for additional health impact assessments in line with Environmental Agency stipulations.

-         Insufficient assessment of the need for appropriate mitigation measures in light of potential air quality impacts at the planning application stage in line with EA stipulations.

CO2

-         Pyrolysis produces bio-oil and syngas which when combusted for energy, produce vast amounts of CO2, wholly inconsistent with the achievement of EU emission targets.

WATER COURSES

-         Contamination of London canals from run off pollutants during construction, not sufficiently mitigated by drainage measures.

-         Region is water stressed in terms of supply of mains water and site water demand will exacerbate this, in excess to the rainwater-harvesting techniques designed to reduce onsite mains water demand.

PEDESTRIANS

-         During construction, adverse effects on users of playground in Harley road, residential properties and pedestrians in Old Oak Lane Conservation Area, users of the Grand Union Canal and pedestrians walking through Metro Multi Trading Estate.

CONSTRUCTION

-         Adverse noise pollution during construction.

-         Medium to low risk impact of dust generated during construction.

-         Potential for ground contamination during construction period.

-         Potential for ground contamination from storage/handling of oils, chemicals & waste materials from the new plant, not met by proposal to place in storage facilities.

For these reasons we strongly object to the proposal in its current form.

Yours sincerely,

Dr Shahrar Ali, Spokesperson for Planning and Environment
Brent Green Party, PO Box 54786, London NW9 1FL
Contact shahrar.ali@greenparty.org.uk

Up Up and Away for Brent and Barnet Green Parties

Photo of Brent and Barnet Greens by Claudia Evans (l-r): Lia, Johnny, Shahrar, Alex, Donald, Gardi, Andrew, Rebecca, Noel and Ben (stitting).

On Sunday 18 April, Green candidates were out in force at Clitterhouse playing fields near Brent Cross. Donald Lyven, parliamentary candidate for Finchley and Golders Green was attempting to fly a kite at 140m to bring attention to the height of a proposed chimney for a gasifying incinerator – even taller than the Wembley arch. He had to gain permission from the Civil Aviation Authority to attempt the stunt.

Donald was supported by several colleagues from Brent Greens: Shahrar Ali, parliamentary candidate for Brent Central, plus council candidates Alex Freed for Queen’s Park and Lia Colacicco Evans and Johnny Wharton from Mapesbury.

Shahrar said: “This was an imaginative idea well executed. The air was still and even at half its intended height, the kite display showed us just how obtrusive an incinerator chimney would be. The balloon release was inspiring. But instead of lifting the spirit the smoke would be oppressive."

The team released helium balloons with a message to finders – warning them that if the wind had blown the balloon in their direction, then they would also receive toxic emissions from the proposed chimney.

Brent and Barnet Greens are members of the Coalition for a Sustainable Brent Cross, and were joined by local Friends of the Earth groups. Coalition co-ordinator Lia Colacicco is also a Green candidate for Mapesbury.

Lia added a message for local residents: “People may be fooled into thinking that energy from waste is renewable. But after hearing the evidence from leading environmental chemist Paul Connett, I was shocked. The toxic nanoparticles produced by vapours in rubbish are so small they can’t be regulated, and can travel for miles. Rather than getting stuck in the lungs they pass through into the blood and are carried to the brain."

Local Press. Barnet Times.