On 9th December 2020 the Environment Agency allowed a permit variation of Permit TP3836CT for Viridor Waste Management Incinerator at Beddington Lane, Croydon to increase their capacity by 15%.
In December 2021 Viridor Incinerator sought permission again from the Environment Agency to increase capacity by an additional 10% (a 26.281% increase from the original maximum agreed to obtain planning permission).
A month after the application Viridor asked their communications agency SEC Newgate to write a 2-page briefing note to the South London Waste Partnership to reveal what they are attempting to do for a second time, after a public annoyance shown by the Joint Committee on the last occasion when they discovered the increase after being told by a resident. At the South London Waste Partnership Joint Committee meeting held on 17 December 2020, the members lined up to criticize Viridor publically.
Beddington ERF permit variation briefing January 202210 days later Sutton Council broke the news publically by issuing a press release by the Deputy Leader Cllr Abellan who is the Chair of Environment & Sustainable Transport Committee in Sutton and Chair of the South London Waste Partnership
Statement Permit variation application for the Beddington Energy Recovery Facility from South London Waste Partnership (SLWP)
http://www.slwp.org.uk/statement-application-beddington/
Sutton Council opposes Viridor's plans to increase waste activity in Beddington - Sutton Council
https://www.sutton.gov.uk/-/sutton-council-opposes-viridor-s-plans-to-increase-waste-activity-in-beddington
Merton Full Council Public questions to cabinet members 2 February 2022
Merton Full Council Public questions to cabinet members 2 February 2022https://democracy.merton.gov.uk/documents/s45179/RESPONSES%20220202%20Public%20Questions.pdf
Statement from Councillor Natasha Irons on Viridor’s application to vary the Beddington Energy Recover Facility’s environmental permit - Merton Council Newsroom
The Environment Agency Opened the CR0 4TD, Viridor South London Limited, EPR/GP3305LN/V003: environmental permit consultation on Thursday 10th November 2022. Normally the Environment Agency consultations are open just for 4 weeks, however, due to the controversy over the Beddington incinerator with the regular breaches the Environment Agency has decided to leave it open for 6 weeks, right up to the 23rd December 2022.
https://consult.environment-agency.gov.uk/psc/cr0-4td-viridor-south-london-limited/
The Government has also stepped in, writing a Press Release highlighting the issues around the permit variation.
If granted, the environmental permit variation will allow Viridor to:
- Increase the processing capacity of the energy recovery facility to 382,286 tonnes per annum. An increase of 34,864 tonnes;
- Update the status of all pre-operational and improvement conditions in the permit;
- Amend all of the emission point locations listed in the environmental permit for discharges to surface water and sewerage, for both the energy recovery facility and waste transfer station. Incorporate an additional emissions point for shredder emissions at the waste transfer station;
- Consolidate permits for the waste transfer station and the energy recovery facility into a single environmental permit;
- Include additional European Waste Catalogue (EWC) codes for the operation of the waste transfer station. These are for temporary storage and transfer only of hazardous and clinical wastes. These materials are not to be processed in the energy recovery facility. EWC codes classify common types of waste and how they should be treated.
Merton Council has issued a Press Release although they have provided an incorrect link to the consultation….
With the consultation closed a total of 447 published responses have been made, more may well be submitted that opt out of publication.
At least 43 responses (almost 10%) show that they are more informed on the pollution from the incinerator than the official South London Waste Partnership Response 911610854 / Re-Published on SLWP.org.uk. As usual, the four councils ignore their responsibilities and copy & paste the incorrect information provided by SLWP.
Repsonse 925471026
Response 991195770
Response 101471881
Response 645721826
Response 805960860
Response 987709031
Response 420824150
Response 682165416
Response 670578416
Response 933294613
Response 954302668
Response 788369801
Response 902874600
Response 263937057
Response 80825549
Response 941904530
Response 159079734
Response 529205033
Response 620973756
Response 249476912
Response 153833267
Response 954119501
Response 464440420
Response 287984516
Response 696098094
Response 65240123
Response 849697579
Response 252740221
Response 888131230
Response 470018398
Response 134976538
Response 169625777
Response 368296928
Response 792812496
Response 625402912
Response 365088546
Response 579724092
Response 630821987
Response 266220701
Response 626705862
Response 994228723
Response 838298850
Response 1020119677
Merton Council issued a Response 394100385 (a copy can be found at news.merton.gov.uk)
Sutton Council Response 959082647 (a copy can be found at www.sutton.gov.uk) has been less obvious in exposing their complete admittance of being nieve to the air pollution created by their cash cow by rewording the SLWP statement, but again prove they don’t examine the data and have no interest in the dangers or accuracy of information provided by Viridor or SLWP incinerator financed Communications Advisor.
There seem to be no responses from Croydon or Kingston Councils.