‘A council tax strike is one peaceful way we are choosing to show our objection’

• I AM so outraged at Islington Council’s investment in the expansion of the Edmonton North London Waste Authority incinerator that from this month onwards, myself and my household have decided to withhold £20 from our council tax payments until it withdraws from the NLWA’s scheme.

LBI representatives were due to be signing the £1.6billion deal with Spanish contractors Acciona this week, but there is time to press pause.

Just last Thursday London experienced crisis level air pollution levels, and those suffering from asthma were advised to stay indoors. We can’t blithely build a massive incinerator, adding to the problem.

The new incinerator is designed to increase capacity so much as to allow rubbish to be imported from beyond the seven London councils that are funding the project.

We are supposed to be reducing waste to live up to our COP26 commitments not creating yet more pollution.

Instead of investing hundreds of millions of pounds in expanding the new Edmonton incinerator, the council would do better to invest in an information campaign explaining more clearly how people can recycle more of their waste, to minimise the amount that gets chucked into black bin bags.

And hire local people to go door-to-door or set up advice stations to answer residents’ questions about the specifics of what can and can’t be recycled, kerbside, to overcome confusion about which plastics can be recycled.

Or why doesn’t the council prioritise proper recycling facilities on council estates? It’s a disgrace that this is not yet in place.

Or how about using giving business council tax breaks to shops that have dry goods refill stations so people don’t buy groceries in plastic packaging that subsequently needs to be disposed of?

We all need to be part of the solution, not just to leave it to the council and a massive incinerator.

I believe in paying my council tax and have always done so. But with the Crime, Policing and Sentencing Bill going through parliament, United Kingdom citizens have to find creative ways to protest, as we risk 51 weeks’ imprisonment for peaceful protest on our streets.

A council tax strike is one peaceful way we are choosing to show our objection. For those who would like to join this protest and know more about legal implications of withholding council tax payments email: NLincineratorCTS@protonmail.com

JOANNA PEARL
Address supplied