WESTBURY residents have reported a return of the notorious Westbury smell, stemming from Hills Waste Solutions’ waste plant, which is causing misery for those living near the industrial estate.
Complaints have been made locally for years over a “rancid” smell that has appeared periodically from the Mechanical Biological Treatment (MBT) plant at Hills’ Northacre Resource Recovery Centre. This was made worse in the summer of 2021 as the company scrambled to fix a faulty bio-filter, which Hills say was the cause of the issue.
Despite the biofilter being fixed, Westbury residents have repeatedly complained that the smell has returned to the town. The Environment Agency (EA) previously said that the smell from the Hills site was “no longer a reasonable cause for annoyance” but following more complaints by residents, the local MP, Andrew Murrison, wrote to the chief executive of the EA in August of last year to reiterate their concerns.
In response, the EA said that they had received minimal reports of an odour issue and that reports were “few and far between” and therefore did not warrant an investigation. Fast-forward a year and complaints have yet again been made to the EA.
Julia Young, who lives on Storridge Road, says she would have reconsidered moving to the area if she knew just how bad the smell would be.
“I moved to this part of the town not that long ago and if I was told about how bad the smell really was, I would have never moved to this part of Westbury,” she said. “The smell has gotten worse since last year and sometimes when it hits you in the face it can smell just like rotting flesh. When the weather is wet, you don’t notice it as much, but as it’s been getting warmer it’s been getting worse.
“When the smell gets really bad in peak summer, we end up being overrun with flies and it’s a constant battle trying to keep them out. The key point is that while it’s really bad here you can smell it all over the town and even as far as Dilton Marsh, depending on where the wind blows, we just notice it first!
“Since they repaired the bio-filters last summer we did actually notice an improvement, and this summer has been quite wet so we haven’t been out as much or had the windows open like we normally would, but now things are warming up, it’s like nothing has changed.
“When the EA come out to investigate we often see them at The Ham where they say the smell is minimal- they should try coming to my house in summer and see what it’s really like! We’re always told that we are the only ones complaining, but all our neighbours have complained about it also. I think most people have become disillusioned by Hills’ lack of care with this issue and they’ve somehow learned to live with it despite it being so bad.”
The EA say that since April of this year they have received 20 reports of odour in Westbury that can be attributed to the MBT plant, with 14 reports coming from two people. They say that plants such as the one in Westbury are always likely to produce odour given how much waste is managed there.
The EA say, “We have been sending officers out to the area to assess reported odour. We have identified odour related to the MBT plant on some occasions. When odour has been detected in residential areas, it has been reported to be very faint, or faint and transient and localised in nature.
“We have visited the site to ensure that they are using all appropriate measures to minimise odour release. It is a fact that sites that manage thousands of tonnes of household waste are likely to produce some odour, even when they are using all appropriate measures. We will continue to look at the site’s operations to see if additional measures need to be taken.”
Hills, who say that there are no current issues with the MBT plant at the Westbury site added, “We have had no direct complaints regarding odour at the MBT site recently. Residents can also raise any complaint via the Environment Agency – any complaints are then forwarded directly to Hills. There are no current issues with the bio-filter.”
The EA’s instant hotline can be contacted through email on enquiries@environment-agency.gov.uk and on the phone at 0800 80 70 60 (select option 1).
