POLITICAL differences were set aside as Bexley Council unanimously appealed to London's mayor for his support in fighting plans for an incinerator in Belvedere.

Bexley people have been trying to quash plans to build an incinerator on the site, in Norman Road, for more than 11 years and hope Ken Livingstone will join them.

They are furious the Western Riverside Waste Authority which covers south west London has awarded a 25-year rubbish contract to Cory Environmental which wants to build the incinerator.

At last week's council meeting, Belvedere councillor Daniel Francis proposed a motion condemning the WRWA's actions.

The motion heavily criticised Wandsworth and Westminster and Chelsea for supporting the Belvedere incinerator, and the chairman of the WRWA who used his casting vote to push the decision through.

Cllr Francis said people living near Norman Road were right to be worried about the idea of an incinerator, citing the record of the SELCHP incinerator in Deptford on its many breaches of emissions limits.

He said the "consultation", which the WRWA claimed supported the Belvedere option, didn't stand up to scrutiny with only 899 responses from more than 800,000 people.

Senior cabinet member for the environment, Councillor Len Newton, said the real issue was whether the Department of Trade and Industry would approve the application for the Belvedere incinerator.

"The reason no date has yet been set for the public inquiry is because the Government is not clear on what it wants to do."

He said there was a 2m tonne shortfall in capacity to deal with London's rubbish and inner London boroughs were not able to build their own small scale incinerators. He said the alternative was to build three large incinerators. "That is where our pressure needs to be," he added.