AFTER more than a three-year procurement process to contract out the management of waste from north London, the North London Waste Authority chief Councillor Clyde Loakes dramatically U-turned last week.
When I analysed the sparse information made public by the secretive NLWA over a year ago, I was astonished to discover that costs for north Londoners, including people in Islington, would almost triple under his leadership to more than £4billion.
I made my findings public in the Tribune, along with the potential for at least £1billion savings.
In his response, the NLWA chief derisively claimed I didn’t know what I was talking about.
Last year, I and No2VAG informed Islington Council and all the other boroughs of the reckless plan to waste such a colossal sum of money in these times of immense financial pressure.
Belatedly and after spending at least a further £5million of public money on “expert” investigation, Cllr Loakes now admits the NLWA could save £900m by simply cancelling his grandiose plan.
Yet the top people in the NLWA continue with their £100k-plus salaries in spite of overseeing the throwing away of more than £10m on highly-paid expert consultants.
Meanwhile, Cllr Loakes is re-elected as NLWA chair to preside over this mess. While he has introduced
fines for spitting in public, he is now virtually spitting in the face of the many north London residents who were convinced of the lunacy of his grandiose rubbish plan.
The fantastic result of these £1billion savings gives me great satisfaction, though initially my main reason for examining this waste plan was the No2VAG campaign against Veolia’s bid for the £4.7billion contracts, which shows that fighting for justice for Palestinians can benefit Islington.
ROB LANGLANDS
Secretary, No2Veolia Action Group
So boycotting Israel's collaborators can make political, moral and financial sense. Good news!
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