The Evil Smell by Anthony Portal
As you may know, I
have been running a campaign against the smell from the landfill site since
November 1998
and organised. In March 2001, I
organised a public meeting at St. James's Church Emsworth, attended by about
200 people. As a result, the Company began to take complaints seriously and the
reporting line was set up on 02392
629477.
After much prodding, by late 2002 things had improved. The summer of 2003 was relatively free of incidents. In November 2003 things deteriorated as a result of leaving the active cell uncapped while all the rubbish went to Paulsgrove. My complaints eventually led to the Company taking corrective action and after 6 months the situation began to improve.
The smell is generally at its worst during periods of fine weather with little or no wind. The smell caused a nuisance on 21% of the days between November 2003 and May 2004 and it was strong enough to cause a nuisance on 30% of days in April and May 2004. This represents virtually every day on which the weather conditions made its presence possible. It is clear that even putting their best efforts into it, Onyx has failed to achieve its objective of stopping the smell.
At
present, theThe active cell is half full and. It will probably be full by early 2005. Tand
there is currently no more suitable land at the site designated for
use as landfill. The County Council's waste policy is to cut down
on landfill and to use re-cycling and incineration. Once the new incinerators
are operational, the County expect to re-cycle or incinerate 90% of rubbish and
landfill only 10%.
There is a possibility that an application will be made to extend the site geographically, to meet the continuing requirement of 10% landfill. Onyx has commissioned engineering surveys to the North and East of the site to determine its suitability for use as landfill.
We must be alert
to the possibility that an application to extend the site
geographically, to meet the continuing requirement of 10% landfill, will be
made.
·
We must continue to record and report any
instance of the smell reaching our houses.
·
We must be prepared to object to any application
and demand a public enquiry.
·
We can consider legal action both against the
planning authority and the Company.
It is unacceptable to have a landfill site within a
few hundred yards of a densely populated area if the operators are incapable of
stopping the landfill gas from escaping. If the site is extended, we can expect
a further 15 to 20 years of being unable to open a window or use our gardens in
fine weather. Meanwhile keep recording
and reporting any instance of the smell.
Please send e-mail me at a.portal@slco.demon.co.uk if you wish to be included on my database of people to whom I write with updates from time to time. Please also let me know if you think you have suffered health problems as a result of being subjected to landfill gas.