I AM writing in response to a letter from Sharon Osborn about the Belvedere Incinerator (For Recycling But Not Incinerator, Letters, August 2).

Ms Osborn claims to have lived in Bexley for her whole life. If it is true then she clearly has not been listening to the debate which has been raging for the past 16 years.

The Bexley position has always been we are not, in principle, opposed to waste incineration for non-recyclable material.

If this were simply an incinerator capable of handling Bexley's non-recycable waste it would not be difficult to support.

This incinerator is vast and is capable of incinerating nine times the amount of Bexley's non-reyclable waste.

At a conservative estimate, this incinerator would be capable of burning more than 20 per cent of London's waste.

It is being imposed on the north of our borough against the clear and repeatedly expressed wishes of our residents over a very long period of time.

We are the number-one recycling borough in London. We have spent a great deal of time and money over the years encouraging people to recycle more.

However, what incentive is there for people to continue recycling in the borough if they know a dirty great incinerator is shortly to be built in the area?

What incentive will there be for people in other boroughs to recycle, when they know all their rubbish will be taken and burnt elsewhere?

People have been steadfast on this for almost two decades and their stance has been unanimously supported by councils under the colours of all political parties throughout this time.

The Government has chosen to completely dismiss the views of residents in the area and their representatives to pursue its own agenda.

It is all very well for Ms Osborn to find the council's opinion on this "quite irritating" but I would suggest here are more than 200,000 of her fellow Bexley residents who feel exactly the same about her letter.

Councillor Gareth Bacon, Longlands ward, cabinet member for the environment