WESTBURY town councillors have urged members of the public to continue to report the ‘relentless stench’ originating from Hills Waste Solutions to the Environment Agency (EA).
At a full town council meeting, held on 1st November, it was revealed in a report by Wiltshire councillor Carole King, that only three reports have been handed in to the EA in the past two weeks, despite numerous complaints online. This prompted councillors to urge residents to keep up the pressure if they want the EA to act on the smell.
Speaking at the meeting, Westbury mayor, cllr Sheila Kimmins said, “The problem is if we do not tell the EA what is going on, then they will turn round and say (as they have said in the past) ‘but we haven’t had any complaints.’
“We’ve got to keep complaining because it hasn’t gone away, this has been going on since July and it’s inexcusable.”
Cllr Gordon King attended a recent meeting with Hills in which he lamented the lack of communication the company had with the town with regards to the issue.
Cllr Gordon King said, “This is a complete failure on their (Hills) part of communication on a number of levels, not least with keeping people advised about what was happening, why it was happening and when or not it would be sorted.
“It is beyond anything else, a complete failure of their communications.”
Cllr Ward Jones added, “It does concern me that Hills’ attitude is so negative in all this. I think it would be appropriate as a council to write to Hills to express our disappointment that they have conveyed, by what they have said and the way they had said it, the suggestion that they have a relaxed attitude to what is a substantial problem.
“I think it’s gross mismanagement and I’m hugely disappointed that the EA did not do more when Hills broke the law.”
The town council agreed to write a letter to Hills, expressing their disappointment in the company’s communications with the town. At the moment, Hills say they are only processing 75% of all waste that they receive, in a bid to reduce the impact of the smell.
