• INFORMATION changes and when it changes we have to reconsider our opinions and review our decisions.

Twenty years ago I bought a diesel car. Government policy encouraged this because diesel was considered less environmentally damaging than petrol.

In the years that followed we learned that diesels emit high levels of particulates which increase the risk of breathing problems, cancers and heart attack. What had seemed like a responsible decision turned out not to be so.

The decision to expand the Edmonton incinerator is based on plans made several years ago.

Islington and the six other north London boroughs concerned now need to pause and reassess the decision in the face of the climate emergency, concerns about air pollution, and Islington’s commitment to be carbon-neutral by 2030.

At the December 16 vote, I hope Islington councillors Rowena Champion and Satnam Gill will vote to pause and reassess the evidence.

If the expansion goes ahead future generations may well consider the decision to burn rubbish that could be recycled as being as bizarre as those 1950s tobacco adverts in which doctors recommended smoking cigarettes to improve lung health.

DOROTHY BOSWELL