CHANTING protesters blocked the entrance to Haringey Civic Centre last night in the latest demonstration against plans for a new waste plant.

More than 200 members of the Pinkham Way Alliance campaign group braved heavy rain to hold placards and shout outside the building, in High Road, Wood Green, as councillors considered a Liberal Democrat motion to oppose the proposed site in New Southgate.

Under the plans, by the North London Waste Authority, the plant would deal with 300,000 tonnes of waste a year from across seven boroughs, making it Europe's largest waste facility.

Protesters held up banners that read 'No Way to Pinkham Way' and 'No to Stinkham Way' as they chanted.

Alliance member Alaistair Sherriff said: “We feel that because of the traffic it's going to bring to the area and the pollution the trucks will create, it will be a huge problem.

“We are not a political organisation at all and we want cross-party support on this. We are representing the people, who through a lack of consultation have not been given a chance to speak.”

The protest caused a police cordon to be put up and forced some councillors to use a separate entrance to gain access to the council chamber for the meeting.

Alexandra ward Liberal Democrat councillor Juliet Solomon put forward a motion calling on the council to formally reject the plans – but this was voted down by Labour councillors.

She said: “There simply hasn't been enough consultation on this. If they had done lots of consultation then the public gallery wouldn't be full and there wouldn't be people outside protesting.”

But Labour councillor Alan Strickland, cabinet member for planning, said that it was not the responsibility of the full council to oppose Pinkham Way before it had gone through an official planning process.

He added: “I am sad that the Liberal Democrats have misled members of the public in coming to this meeting expecting this application to be rejected.”

But he said the cabinet had won a concession from the North London Waste Authority that no decision would be taken until more detailed plans had been inspected by the council's planning committee.