News from Devon Labour

Ivybridge councillor must resolve ‘conflict of interest’ over Ivybridge incinerator

Luke Pollard, Labour’s Prospective Parliamentary Candidate in South West Devon, has written to Cllr Roger Croad asking him to resign from his waste portfolio on Devon County Council over a conflict of interest over Ivybridge residents’ campaign against Viridor’s incinerator proposals.

Cllr Croad is Ivybridge’s Devon County Councillor and holds the waste portfolio on Devon County Council. He is also Chair of South West Waste Partnerships, the Council body that is running the competition for an incinerator location in South Devon.

Luke Pollard said:

“If we are to stop the incinerator we need Ivybridge’s Devon County Councillor to be fully behind the campaign opposing the incinerator. Leading Ivybridge’s campaign against the incinerator is incompatible with being in charge of the body considering Lee Mill as an incinerator location. He cannot do both properly.”

“The local people I’ve spoken to want reassurance that having failed to tell them about plans for an incinerator on their doorstep our local councillor is going to do all he can to stop the incinerator. You cannot fight against the incinerator on one hand and lead the search for an incinerator on the other. That’s a horrendous and obvious conflict of interest. I’ve asked Cllr Croad to choose whether he is Ivybridge’s Councillor first and foremost or the Council’s waste portfolio holder. He cannot do both. I hope he chooses wisely.”

“It seems bizarre to me that Cllr Croad hasn’t already recognised this conflict of interest and taken action to resolve it. Yet again, local Tories are having to be hounded into supporting local residents opposing the incinerator.”