Over 300 residents in Ivybridge demonstrated against plans by Viridor to build an incinerator near Ivybridge. The demonstration began outside the Watermark before the hundreds of people marched through the town before reassembling outside the Watermark for speeches.
Frankie Dolan, the founder of EcoIvy.org – who sadly missed out on being elected as the Woodlands Town Councillor by 20 votes earlier in the week – spoke to the crowd about the possible effects of the incinerator on our local community. She spoke with such passion and conviction. I am really pleased she is leading the residents’ campaign against the incinerator.
It was very satisfying to see all the political parties beginning to unite behind the campaign to oppose the incinerator. The Greens were out in force and it was good to see the Liberal Democrats attend too – despite the incinerator being part of their own waste strategy from when they controlled Devon County Council only a few years ago. Labour members were out in force to continue our campaign against the incinerator. But where were the Conservatives?
Having initially agreed to attend our local MP, Gary Streeter, had pulled out at the last minute. Where was Cllr Roger Croad, Ivybridge’s County Councillor and the waste portfolio holder on Tory-controlled Devon County Council? He wasn’t there either.
Earlier this week I called for Cllr Roger Croad to clarify his conflict of interest over his role opposing the incinerator and the demonstration crowd agreed with me when I made that point to them in the speeches. Cllr Croad has emailed a local resident saying he doesn’t feel his position is compromised. I disagree and so did most of the 300 people there today. Isn’t it about time that he listened and acted to resolve his conflict.
Why is this important? Simply, because we need all Ivybridge’s political parties to back this campaign and the Tories are currently letting the side down. We cannot allow Viridor to suggest that this campaign is party political (as I understand they said earlier this week at their latest exhibition) – it needs to be a united campaign on behalf of Ivybridge and Lee Mill residents. The longer Cllr Croad and Gary Streeter hide from publicly joining with residents the more Viridor will be able to use this line and the more local residents will feel betrayed by their own local representatives.
Well done to Frankie Dolan for organising today’s protest. The next event is a public meeting on Monday night at the Watermark – see you there!
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