Dear Ian Ward,

As Leader of Birmingham City Council, you have a duty to uphold the democratic decisions made by the Council and to look after communities across Birmingham. On the 11th June 2019, 83 councillors unanimously voted in favour of the Climate Emergency Declaration. This commits the council to a 2030 carbon-neutrality ambition under the principles of a "just transition".

Therefore, you must recognise that the ongoing procurement process to extend the lifetime of Tyseley Incinerator until 2034 is irresponsible and reckless. Thus we urge you to cancel this process with immediate effect.

Every year, 900 people lose their lives due to air pollution in this city. Moreover, whilst Tyseley may somehow seem to be a responsible source of energy in the city, it is 23 times more carbon-intensive than low-carbon, renewable alternatives. Moreover, 1/2 of what is burnt at Tyseley is organic matter so could be composted or converted into biogas through respiration systems. Similarly, Tyseley has depressed our cities recycling rate to 23% which is utterly shameful compared to the 2/3rds recycling rate in East Riding, Yorkshire. Combined, this means that we are unnecessarily burning huge amounts of waste which could be dealt with in other ways. Until Tyseley is gone, this will continue.

Campaigners are often experts at raising problems without solutions. When it comes to Tyseley however, there are clear alternatives which Birmingham Friends of the Earth have advocated for over the 30 years that Tyseley Incinerator has been operational. We can digest our organic waste to create biogas. This should be matched with increased recycling and regional laws to decrease the use of plastics and packaging. We also believe that an independent investigation should be launched into the contradictory measures proposed by the council. For example, Tyseley is set to be renewed until 2034, 4 years after our decarbonisation ambition of 2030. How was the procurement process allowed to make it this far? Moreover, we need an end to the "smoke and mirrors" operations of the council. The information which impacts public wellbeing should be available to the public, that again seems to be common sense.

Upon receipt of this letter, we hope that you will immediately suspend the procurement process of Tysley Incinerator and hold important discussions with councillors John O'Shea and Waseem Zaffar. You may also wish to consult the all-party group who originally proposed the Climate Emergency Declaration: Roger Harmer, Lisa Trickett, Julien Pritchard and Robert Alden

Our communities deserve better than this.

Yours faithfully,

Birmingham Youth Strike 4 Climate