North London Waste Authority says inflation, rising wages and expensive construction materials have all contributed to delays, reports Sebastian Mann, Local Democracy Reporter

Construction of the new incinerator is said to be progressing slowly (LDRS image)

Progress on construction of the new Edmonton incinerator is at risk of stalling further amid a “challenging period” for the industry, officials say.

The redevelopment at Edmonton Eco Park, which will replace the existing, ageing waste-burning facility, has hit a series of obstacles and might not be finished on time.

Inflation, rising wages and expensive construction materials have all contributed to the delay, according to North London Waste Authority (NLWA), which is leading the project.

NLWA is controlled by councillors from Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Hackney, Haringey, Islington and Waltham Forest, and is responsible for disposing of waste from the seven boroughs.

Heat generated by the new incinerator is expected to power 127,000 homes, an increase of 55,000 on the existing ‘energy from waste’ facility, and heat a further 60,000.

Last year, it was reported that the overall budget for the incinerator, as well as other new waste facilities at Edmonton Eco Park collectively dubbed ‘North London Heat and Power Project’, had risen from £1.2billion to around £1.5bn.

Material costs are around 40% higher than they were in 2020, despite recent falls in price, while a shortage in skilled workers has made it “significantly more expensive” to hire them.

The cost of shipping appears to also be rising once again, as tension in the Middle East continues to cause disruption in the Red Sea.

NLWA currently hopes to have the new incinerator fully up and running by 2027, two years later than originally forecast when construction began in 2022.

Construction firm Acciona, which was awarded the contract to build it in 2021, has also faced “continued” delays in bringing in subcontractors for the next stage of the development.

Officers from NLWA have been pressing them to produce a “realistic” schedule and delivery plan, but fears Acciona may struggle to meet its “existing contractual obligations”.

They have been meeting “regularly” with Acciona on how to “restore on site momentum” and minimise future delays, NLWA says.

While the specifics of Acciona’s recovery plan have not yet been published, NLWA has warned the company it may have to pay damages if the project is not finished on time.

An officer wrote in a report, published in July: “It is not in the authority’s interest to be working with a contractor facing significant financial challenges.”

But members of the Stop the Edmonton Incinerator Now campaign say the authority should instead “pull the plug” on the scheme.

Carina Millstone, a spokesperson for the group, said: “The NLWA must urgently provide its seven constituent councils with updated financial projections in light of these delays, given new national climate and waste management policies.

“It’s not too late for the councils to safeguard their budgets, their climate, air pollution and waste targets, and do the right thing by their taxpayers, by pulling the plug on this outdated, outsized, toxic incinerator.”

A spokesperson for NLWA said that, despite the shortfalls, progress was “being made” and steelworks were due to start “imminently”.

They continued: “We are working closely with Acciona to work up and agree a revised timetable and understand potential impacts on cost.

“Our priority is to make sure we secure the best environmental and financial outcomes for our constituent boroughs and council taxpayers.”

Environmental campaigners previously attacked the new incinerator’s size, saying it was far bigger than needed, and have recently highlighted how North London households produced thousands of tonnes less rubbish in 2023 than they did the year before.

They claim NLWA was working on “flawed assumptions,” arguing that an “oversized incinerator can’t simply be dialled down – to keep burning efficiently, waste will have to be imported”.

But the authority has repeatedly defended its scope and says the population in North London is expected to rise between 10%-45% in coming years. More people will also be living in flats and apartments in future, which have a lower recycling rate than houses.

NLWA says that while it expects “people will recycle more and produce less waste in the future” there will also be “more people producing waste, which means we need to plan for increasing volumes of waste”.

A separate part of NLWA’s North London Heat and Power Project, a new reuse and recycling centre where residents can drop-off bulky waste items for disposal, opened to the public at Edmonton Eco Park in July.

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