Residents in Mowmacre have been complaining about the appalling smell from the Biffa recycling plant for years.

On some days, the smells get so bad, people feel forced to stay in their houses with the windows and doors firmly shut. This is completely unacceptable.

I’ve held a series of meetings with local residents, the manager of Biffa, representatives of the Environment Agency, Council Officers, local Abbey Cllrs Annette Byrne and Colin Marriott, and Cllr Sarah Russell (Cabinet Lead for Environment) to demand Biffa takes action to address this problem.

As a result, the Environment Agency has doubled its inspections of the plant, and Biffa has agreed to take a range of actions including replacing parts of its suction system (which they found was working at a much reduced capacity).  Local Community Wardens are helping monitor the situation with residents, who have volunteered to keep a diary of bad smells. I will continue to push for the site to improve and will be holding a follow up meeting in the new year.