Campaigners 'disgusted' by waste site plans

A campaign group says it will fight plans to develop a waste management site where residents have complained about bad smells for years.

Wastewise, in Willerby, East Yorkshire, wants to expand its biowaste facility to include different types of waste and has launched a consultation.

Elaine Houghton, who lives in Cottingham and runs Stop The Stink, described the plans as "horrendous" and said they would be objecting.

A spokesperson for FCC Environment, the operator of the site, said the facility was needed to meet the future waste requirements of the area.

The spokesperson added: "This will help the site serve local communities efficiently and sustainably for years to come, while safeguarding 13 existing jobs."

Wastewise converts biowaste collected from households in Hull, East Yorkshire and Greater Manchester into compost.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), the expansion would allow it to receive and sort waste from recycling centres and kerbside collections across East Yorkshire.

It could also receive residual household and commercial waste, leftover rubbish that cannot be reused or recycled, and shredding waste prior to energy recovery.

The plans, by FCC Environment, previously known as Biowise, states improvements to a composting area would help to minimise smells.

The plans state: "The proposal incorporates a range of pollution control measures and would include a thorough soft-landscaping scheme and ecological enhancements."

A new waste recovery and transfer facility would be "designed to resemble an agricultural-style building", the plans add.

Houghton described the smell from the site as "like putrid, rotting meat, fish, vegetation and vomit".

"It sticks to your clothes, your washing, [and] gets in your windows," she added.

Reacting to the proposals, she said: "[I'm] just really cheesed off. I've been involved in this campaign from about 2022. So, four years it's been going on.

"I'm absolutely disgusted because they know what the feeling is in the area."

Councillor Zahra Saribal told the LDRS: "I live in Kirk Ella and there have been occasions when I've experienced the smell, too.

"Residents deserve to be heard and taken seriously."

She said the investment in the site should be cautiously welcomed if improvements focused on the composting area.

"Residents want lasting solutions rather than short-term fixes," she added.

"My position is that we should judge these plans on results, not promises."

Willerby resident Gareth Potter said: "Some days [the smell] is really appalling, and other days it is relatively manageable.

"It is horrible and it seems like no one wants to do anything about it."

Reacting to the plans, he added: "If they can't sort out this problem... it seems like a pretty terrible idea, doesn't it?"

Hull West and Haltemprice MP Emma Hardy added: "I have been in contact with both FCC [Environment] and the Environment Agency and encourage all residents to respond to the initial consultation.

"I will continue to support residents and advocate for them should a formal planning application be submitted."

A drop-in public session was held at the Village Hotel, on Henry Boot Way in Hull, earlier this month.

The FCC Environment spokesperson added: "The proposals are for new waste management infrastructure at the existing site and are separate from the current composting operation."

They said feedback would help shape the final design before submitting a planning application.

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