The new Edmonton incinerator will cost £1.25bn and open in December 2029, after a deal agreed on 12 November. Haringey's waste levy is forecast to rise 8.6% next year.
Overview
The new incinerator being built at Edmonton EcoPark will cost £1.25bn and should be finished in December 2029. The North London Waste Authority agreed the revised deal with its contractor, Acciona, on Thursday 12 November. Haringey is one of the seven boroughs that pay for it, and the rubbish collected from Crouch End’s bins is taken there for disposal.
The authority announced the decision the same day. The detail is in the papers for the meeting. Edmonton EcoPark is about five miles north east of Crouch End, beside the North Circular.
What changed on 12 November
When the contract was signed in 2022, officers were given authority to spend up to £885.1m on it. That is the figure in the authority’s own report to the meeting. The new contract price of £1.25bn is about 41% above it. The report notes that £885.1m was never the final amount payable, because several disputed costs were still unsettled.
The plant was due to be handed over on 9 September 2026. Three extensions of time had already pushed that to 14 May 2027. The report says neither side thought May 2027 was achievable. By the time talks began, Acciona’s own programme showed completion in 2032.
Under the new terms:
- the contract price is £1.25bn
- the handover date is 29 December 2029
- Acciona takes on the productivity, wage, inflation and industrial relations risks that the authority previously shared or carried
- both sides will review the contract schedules to speed up delivery
About £722m had been spent on the facility by 31 August 2026, according to the report. The authority says the building is now over 60% complete and the turbine is installed.
Why the authority did not cancel it
The report compared finishing the plant with stopping work and sending north London’s rubbish elsewhere. For the first full year of operation, 2030/31, it puts the total cost to the seven boroughs at:
- about £167m a year with the new incinerator
- about £270m a year without it
- about £138m a year, the forecast members were given in December 2023
So the new plant is still the cheaper option, but by a narrower margin than members were told three years ago. The report calls it “a less favourable outcome than previously anticipated”.
The authority’s chair, Cllr Jacob Cable, said cancelling “would impose significantly greater costs on the boroughs”. He said the alternatives would be “about 60% a year more expensive for decades to come”.
What Haringey pays
Haringey pays the authority a yearly levy for getting rid of its rubbish. This year, 2026/27, it is £12.1m. The authority’s finance update forecasts £13.1m for 2027/28, a rise of 8.6%. Officers say that is mainly because there is less underspend to carry forward than last year. The final levy will be set in February 2027.
Once the incinerator is running, the authority forecasts Haringey’s share of the cost at:
| Year | Forecast cost to Haringey |
|---|---|
| 2030/31, first full year | £21m |
| 2039/40 | £24m |
| 2044/45 | £26m |
| 2059/60 | £35m |
The authority also says it is seeking to borrow up to £250m from the government’s Public Works Loan Board to keep the project funded.
What it means for you
Nothing changes to your bin collections. Haringey still collects your rubbish and recycling, and the collection days stay the same.
The cost lands on the council’s budget. A rise of about £1m in the levy next year comes while Haringey is already consulting on savings for 2027/28.
The new plant replaces the existing incinerator, which the authority says is near the end of its working life. Edmonton EcoPark has handled north London’s waste for more than 50 years. The authority says the new one will use the most advanced pollution controls available, the same technology as a plant in central Copenhagen.
At the meeting, members asked officers for more detail on future costs to boroughs and on ways to control the levies. A draft budget comes back to the authority in December 2026.
Sources: North London Waste Authority news release, 12 November 2026; NLHPP report and Finance Update, Authority meeting of 12 November 2026.
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