PLANS are in place to help address “offensive odours” coming from a recycling facility following hundreds of complaints from residents.

The £10 million Veolia glass recycling facility, based in Stafford Road, has been operational since November 2017.

Since January, both Veolia and the Environment Agency started to receive complaints from residents concerning offensive odours believed to be originating from the site.

A council report says the primary source of the odours relates to a drying operation of the waste glass received, which contain organic residues.

Tony Smith, the council’s service manager for regulatory services, updated the environment, regeneration, housing, culture and leisure overview and scrutiny panel on the matter this week.

He said material provided by the Environment Agency shows complaints steadily grew from January, before peaking at 84 complaints in June.

In total, there have been 278 complaints recorded to date.

One letter written on behalf of the residents of Factory Row, which was shared among the panel, says a “foul odour” came to light just after the site opened in 2017.

The letter says: “The smell has been described as a combination of rotting food material and strong chemicals, which at its strongest has made people not only feel sick but has made them physically sick.

The letter continues: “During the summer months the heat exasperated the problem and it was almost unbearable on the hottest days, making spending any time outside our properties impossible.

“At a time of year when we should have been enjoying our outside space and children playing in the fresh air, we have been confined indoors without even being able to open the windows as the smell immediately spreads into our properties.

“This is not only unacceptable but also very unhealthy and has ruined summer for us.”

Having been informed of the issue by the Environment Agency, Veolia are required to develop and submit for approval and implement an order management plan.

Mr Smith said this was completed in April and agreed with the Environment Agency.

Central to the plan, he said, was to address the offensive odours being discharged through a dryer stack, where the bulk of the odours are being discharged.

Mr Smith told the panel that measures proposed will deliver more effective dispersal and dilution of the odours by raising the stack to 13 to 30 metres.

Veolia also plan to install pollution abatement equipment, through a wet scrubber, which Mr Smith said will eliminate odorous particles.

Applications were submitted to the council for planning permission on August 13 and a decision is made after October 2.

Mr Smith said: “The Environment Agency, councillors and environmental health officers are supportive of the application as it will improve odour control form the site.

“The time it will take to commission, install and get the proposals up and running at this stage are not known.”

Thatto Heath councillor Richard McCauley said he has received a lot of complaints over the issue.

The Labour councillor questioned why this issue was never highlighted in the original planning stage.

The facility operates under an environmental permit, which is issued and regulated by the Environment Agency.

Mr Smith said that during the planning stage the Environment Agency suggested there would not be any serious odour problems linked to the facility, citing numerous factors.

He said there did not appear to be grounds to object on odour issues and added the same arguments would have been used during the planning process.

Cllr McCauley asked whether proceedings could be halted until the issue is fixed.

He said: “It just seems wrong to me that residents are having to put up with this while it’s going on until this planning application goes through.

“It just seems wrong – we should be able to stop them in the tracks.”

Mr Smith said from the outset, Veolia have complied with the requirements of the permit and have looked at a solution to the odour issue once complaints began to come in.

He said: “The expectation under the permit is, because it’s agreed with the agency, the agency as a regulating body would work with them to test and make sure the proposals are implemented effectively and work and that’s the space they’re at.

“They’ve looked at it, they’ve underpinned what the problems have been by an independent study and the agency are happy at this point in time that they are complying with what’s expected since these incidents are arising.”

Cllr McCauley replied: “They might be happy, but the residents are certainly not, and Veolia are not keeping residents informed what’s going on, according to the letters we’ve received.

“Perhaps we can get the message back to Veolia. It’s just not acceptable really.”

Parr councillor Kate Groucutt said she had concerned the measures would not work, which would delay the problem even further while additional remedial actions were developed and implemented.

Mr Smith said the wet scrubber, if it has a carbon filter, will reduce the odour by seven times, which would be a “substantial reduction”.

He said: “It’s got to bring about an improvement but if it doesn’t work there is potential to further improve that abatement kit.”

The panel noted the report.