In supporting plans for the proposed waste plant in Pinkham Way, Friern Barnet, Barnet Council is showing the same blatant disregard for the wishes of a majority of residents in the area as it has done when introducing ‘pay by phone’ parking.

There has been no proper consultation with residents about building this waste plant, which will not only blight property values (and reduce council tax revenues) but will subject us all to constant noxious pollution, helping to shorten our lives.

We already suffer from one of the highest traffic pollution counts in the UK, not helped by much needless running of car, van and lorry engines when stationary.

On behalf of residents, I wrote in July to our MP Mike Freer.

His reply was that he lived ‘within minutes of the proposed site, but does not have the concerns many have expressed. Waste treatment and truck depots have to be sited somewhere’.

This is not a comment one would expect from an MP who is supposed to represent his voters’ views — who would support this plan?

We are supposed to live in a democratic country, but who would vote for such a monstrous development?

It is clear that building an 80ft tower to incinerate noxious waste in Friern Barnet will have serious negative environmental impact on residents’ health (it is next door to an established nature reserve too).

There are hundreds of people who already have asthma and other breathing problems owing to excessive traffic pollution.

The seven boroughs involved in devising this plan should think again, and, at the very least, impose air pollution criteria in making a decision on whether to build such a plant.

David Gutmann
chairman of Torrington Park Residents’ Association (TOPRA)