Anti-incinerator campaigners claimed a Tory “mob” descended on the launch of the newly-formed protest group last week.

The Green Party held the first meeting of the group at Ruskin House on Wednesday, September 23.

The group was formed in protest at the plans of the South London Waste Partnership, formed of Sutton, Croydon, Kingston and Merton councils, for a new waste management plant.

Procurement documents for the waste contract suggest this could include an incinerator, possibly as a heat to waste facility, built at a site in one of the four boroughs.

Each borough is currently holding a public consultation on locations for waste management facilities in the future, though the SLWP has argued the two processes are separate.

The Stop the Incinerator Group were met by a group of Conservative councillors and activists who were distributing their own leaflets. They were there to claim there are no plans to build an incinerator in Croydon.

Shasha Khan, of the Green Party, said: “Are they incapable of understanding that an incinerator a few hundred yards across the border in Sutton makes no difference? It seems everyone who entered the meeting was accosted by Tories.”

Before the meeting started Peter Hickson, the Green Party candidate for Sutton and Cheam, went outside and asked the Tory members if they would like to attend but they declined.

At the meeting, Jonathan Essex from Sustainable Redhill spoke about the alternatives to incinerators, Neil Pitcairn of UKWIN spoke about the successful campaign in Capel, and Becky Slater from Friends of the Earth talked about the dirty truths.

Shasha Khan also spoke about the South London Waste Plan thus far, and also about the politics behind the issue.

Residents near Beddington Lane, which is a possible site, expressed their worry any new facility could impact on housing prices.

Jason Perry, cabinet member for planning, said: “We are not worried.

"It was very much a one-sided meeting and we wanted to give the other side of the story. There is a clear promise we will not build an incinerator in Croydon.

"The Greens have distorted the debate. They have confused the procurement and the planning process. They are two separate issues.”

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