Opposition to the Ivybridge incinerator has jolted the community into action as they question their representatives, says Luke Pollard

By PRSD, on Saturday, December 5, 2009

Luke Pollard, Labour Prospective Parliamentary Candidate in South West Devon got in touch to talk about opposition to the Ivybridge incinerator, and how ordinary, common or garden people can, and should, hold those in power to account. Take it way Luke…

There is something very important happening in a small part of Devon that groups right across our county could learn from – how to make opposition work.

The Labour Party is in third place in South West Devon. This part of the world has long been regarded as a ‘Tory safe seat’ – a comfortable bastion of conservatism. As you might expect the Tories have longed enjoyed nearly complete dominance in this part of the world. As any historian will tell you this type of dominance can often breed complacency and comfortableness with power that is bad for good democratic governance and citizen involvement.

What do I mean by this? Take the proposals by Viridor, a waste company, to build a rubbish-burning incinerator near Ivybridge as a great case study. This issue might have only caught the attention of local people in the last month after Labour started our campaign alongside residents – to considerable concern from local people – but those in power have known about plans for an incinerator for at least a couple of years.

It was a Liberal Democrat-controlled county council that first identified the quarry as a suitable site in its waste strategy a few years ago. When the Conservatives won control of the county council in June this year instead of taking the plans proactively to the people they adopted, disappointingly, their usual approach and reserved debate for committee rooms and polite and expensively designed public exhibitions with waste companies they know few people will ever see. And so the planning process quietly and progressively advanced towards what might seem an inevitable end point – approval of planning permission. Well, that is what could have happened, but not anymore.

As a young activist growing up I was taught that to be good in office you must first be good in opposition. Being a good opposition isn’t just about winning enough support to take the seat, it is about holding those in power to account. And this is exactly what Labour has been doing in Ivybridge about the incinerator issue.

The campaign is not yet a few months old, but it has already changed the political scene in this small town considerably – the Tories are being held to account for their actions or inaction not just by Labour, but importantly by local people. Helped by an active residents campaign (lead superbly by Ivybridge resident Frankie Dolan, the founder of Eco Ivy) we’ve put pressure on the local Tory Councillor and the Tory MP to come clean about what they know about Viridor’s incinerator plans and importantly, join residents in opposing them.

When I delivered leaflets informing them about Viridor’s plans and the laid-back position of the Conservative council in consulting local people I had no idea just how explosive the results would be. It isn’t just the political establishment that have been jolted into action but the community has woken up to the worrying realisation that those people they elected to look after their affairs and represent them may not have been doing as good a job as they assumed.

It wasn’t the recently re-elected Tory Councillor (who just happens to hold the waste portfolio on the council, and who just happens to chair the body searching for a new incinerator) who told local people about these incinerator plans. Nor was it the Lib Dems who planned the incinerator policy at a county level. It was a handful of Labour volunteers and residents who gave up their spare time because they believe in doing something for their community. All power to them because it has worked.

Having been found sleeping on the job, unprepared at a recent public meeting called by Labour, and uncomfortably conflicted on this issue when the spotlight of public attention was shone at them the local Tories are now scrambling into action and about time too. They’re now organising their own public meeting and beginning to listen to a very angry public although they seem unlikely to mount full-scale opposition to the incinerator.

It looks like opposition to the incinerator may not just be a position advanced on the doorstep by Labour very soon – and that’s a good thing – it shows local pressure and building momentum from a position of opposition works.

I wonder if it were not for Labour’s campaign would my Tory opponent and incumbent MP, Gary Streeter, be rushing to organise meetings and consult local people? Perhaps. But he had not done so for the past two years. If Labour highlighting the failings of their stewardship of local matters spurs them into action then that’s an opposition doing what it is supposed to do – holding those in power to account.

The Tories have been found sleeping on the job over the Ivybridge incinerator. We’re going to keep the pressure on them to consult and represent local people over how the council responds. Remember, it is a Tory-controlled council who will decide whether to grant planning permission for this site and it is a Tory-controlled council that is looking at situating an incinerator somewhere in the south of the county. If they are to do these things, then they will have to put their case to the people. There is no hiding from this issue and now, not hiding it from the public either!

If a small Labour Party in a largely content conservative Devon town can stir action out of the incumbent and entrenched Conservative Party what else can be achieved in the rest of Devon? If you don’t like something your council or MP is doing (or not doing), organise and call for action; make those in power hear your voice. I believe those in power should consult those they represent not just at elections but all year round – and do so proactively.

The fight against Viridor’s plans for an incinerator just south of Lee Mill has only just begun. This is a fight that could, perhaps, be won solely from opposition. But it is a fight that will stand a much greater chance of success if those in power back the campaign. Gary Streeter, come join us in opposing the incinerator – you have a lot of brownie points you need to win back in this town.

• Luke Pollard is Labour’s Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for South West Devon. Visit his website.