Hello All, My name is Stamo and have been updating you on the waste depot front for the last two months, taking over from my fellow neighbor Trisha, who started this petition. Just a reminder that we have a 4th May deadline to leave feedback about the Waste depot in oakleigh rd to the council. For that, you can email Ryan at: abbotsdepot@communityrelations.co.uk . Please, take a few minutes to send out your thoughts about how it would affect us all. Also, cc barnetraad@gmail.com in your email as we need to make sure that your comments go in the planning application. REMEMBER: we cannot do that without your support. We also send the below letters to all the local candidates for the 7th May elections asking them where they stand in regards to the waste coming to our doorstep: Dear All, As we are nearing the elections we residents of Brunswick Park ward continue to fight against Barnet council and the relocation in the Mill Hill waste depot in our heavily residential area. We would like to know where you stand on this matter. Failing to answer this email will mean that you are in favour of it and will let everyone that is affected by the relocation of the depot know before the 7th May Election Day. We need politicians that fight besides us and not for their party. Looking forward to hearing from you and wishing you all good luck in the elections. Kind regards Stamo Residents Against Abbots Depot committee The answers we got from two of them are below in the order we received them: A.M. Poppy: Thank you Stamo for this message. Yes of course - we Greens have opposed the waste depot plans from the start as they would have a severe impact on local residents, create a lot of extra traffic, and the land is likely to be needed in a few years for Crossrail 2 anyway. It also pisses us off that our tax money has been squandered on over-paying for land the council knew they'd need for ages. Our campaign in this matter has been led for me by Andrew Newby, chair of the Barnet Green Party (copied into this message), and he said he would welcome hearing from you if you wished to do so. Now, let me ask you - will you vote Green? I invite you to see my short pitch to you here: http://www.times-series.co.uk/…/12882667.Election_2015__AM…/ and to pledge to vote Green here: http://pledge.greenparty.org.uk/constituen…/chipping-barnet… Yours candidate Poppy Amy Trevethan: Dear Stamo and the RAAD committee, Thank you for your email. I have visited the site a number of times now. It really does seem an unsuitable place to host the depot, and therefore I have consistently opposed the depot’s proposed relocation to the Abbots site. Along with my fellow Labour Councillors, we have made proposals for the depot not be relocated to Oakleigh Road South (and called for alternatives to be explored) and have in each instance voted against its relocation. The Conservatives have had to rely on the casting vote of the Mayor to try to force this move through. They also seem prepared to pay a large sum of money to buy out the Winters lease: and, as it stands, we don’t yet know what their intentions for the Winters site are. The Conservatives have argued that with the removal of Winters, the level of traffic in the area will be significantly reduced. This is simply untrue. We have just had sight of the Council's own recent traffic survey, carried out over just 3 days. It actually shows that the heavy vehicles traffic in and out of Winters is significantly less than that suggested at Council meetings and in their newsletter to residents. Furthermore, the Council's refuse trucks are 28 tonne vehicles, and the bulk recycling vehicles 38 tonnes. On top of this is the possibility that the road will need to be widened to accommodate the vehicles, perhaps entailing an encroachment on the park. I appreciate that the Council are in a rush to find a location for the depot, but that rush is due to their own error and I do not see why residents of the roads around Oakleigh Road South should have to suffer for it, especially given the eloquent and unequivocal opposition that they have voiced to the relocation to date. The next stage for the Council is to submit an application for planning permission - we haven't been able to get a clear answer as to the date yet, but it seems that it will take place in September - we will keep an eye out. There will be a pre-planning consultation period which should last at least 4 weeks. As planning is a quasi-judicial process, objections to planning applications are only considered valid if they are on planning grounds. Labour councillors are willing to assist local residents in considering how to prepare valid objections to the application. Should I be elected, I would hope to use my mandate as the elected representative of the people of Chipping Barnet to sit down with the Leaders of adjacent Councils, as well as Barnet Council, to see what other sites in the North London and Hertfordshire areas might be suitable as an alternative to the Abbots site. I would use the resources available to my parliamentary office to support your endeavours to stop the relocation to this unsuitable site. My kind regards, Cllr Amy Trevethan Councillor for Underhill ward and Labour parliamentary candidate for Chipping Barnet We also put a question about the proposed Abbots waste depot in the Chipping Barnet Hustings last Thursday. The whole video is worth watching as it tells a lot about how our life will be affected in the next 5 years and where our votes should go. All candidates answering about the waste and libraries from 1.09 minutes onwards: http://www.barnetbugle.com/journal/2015/5/1/video-barnet-society-chipping-barnet-hustings-st-john-the-ba.html Hope you enjoy your long weekend. Stamo for Residents Against Abbots Depot committee. barnetraad@gmail.com