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Judge Rejects Request for Hearing
Bexley Council and the Mayor of London’s request for an opportunity to bring a judicial review against the Secretary of State’s decision to approve the Belvedere incinerator was today rejected by the High Court.
The Leader of Bexley Council, Cllr Ian Clement, expressed his bitter disappointment at the decision: “It was important and in the interests of the borough that we did all we could to try to stop this development, which I am still convinced will be bad for Bexley and for London.
“While our arguments received a proper airing, something which I felt they deserved at the very least, I am naturally extremely unhappy at the decision.”
Mayor of London Ken Livingstone said: “I am disappointed that we have not been granted leave to judicially review the Government’s decision to allow an incinerator to be built at Belvedere. This is a bad day for London’s environment, it means that hundreds of thousands of tonnes of London’s rubbish which could have been recycled or used to produce biofuels and hydrogen will simply be burnt. These kinds of incinerators will release as much carbon per unit of energy as a coal fired power station. Given the scale of the challenge facing us on climate change this incinerator is an obscenity.”
Local MP John Austin said he was disappointed but not surprised by the outcome of the application for a Judicial Review over the proposed Belvedere waste incinerator.
Speaking at the annual meeting of the Erith & Thamesmead Labour Party at Abbey Wood Community Centre , he said: ‘If the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, had been given responsibility for strategic waste management in London, we wouldn’t be getting this incinerator. Regrettably Bexley and other London councils have opposed the Mayor having these powers and we will be landed with a decision taken by the Conservative controlled West London waste authority.
John added that he was still hoping that the Mayor might be given strategic powers over waste and was supporting amendments to the Greater London Authority Bill now before parliament.
AUSTIN DEFENDS CHILDREN’s FREE TRAVEL
Local MP, John Austin, has hit out at mean-minded Tories on the Greater London Authority who voted to end free travel for 11,985 young people from Bexley and 19,924 young people from Greenwich at the GLA budget meeting held on February 14th. John Austin said: “Of course I am aware that a few young people cause a nuisance and engage in anti-social behaviour on public transport - as they do elsewhere - but to penalise all children because a few misbehave is an outrageous act of collective punishment.”
John Austin added: “Along with eight out of ten Londoners, I back the Mayor on this one. It was Ken Livingstone who gave London’s elderly free travel and the Tories tried to abolish it and once it had been introduced. Some Tory Councillors tried to block the scheme on the grounds that a few elderly people didn’t use their passes and they sat on the mantle-piece. Now they are attacking free travel for children. I believe their only motivation is cutting costs without considering what impact this would have on family budgets. Abolishing free travel would hit the poorest families hardest, costing them £350 for every child each year. It is mean-minded and irresponsible”.
John Austin said he was in favour of more action to combat anti-social behaviour, for example by more use of CCTV, the roll out of transport PCSOs and the use of anti-social behaviour orders to ban offenders from free use of buses and trains.
He added “I support the resolution recently passed by the passenger watchdog London TravelWatch stating that over 11’s should be required to carry Oyster photo cards when travelling on buses. This measure will help the new transport policing teams to take action against the small number of young people responsible for anti-social behaviour on public transport.
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