One councillor said ‘residents are trapped in a loop’ and added ‘the meetings are failing to deliver the transparency or results that residents deserve’
The smell from an East Yorkshire waste site is becoming unbearable for local people and they feel their voice is not being heard, Cllr Zahra Saribal told a council meeting(Image: East Riding Council Youtube)
East Riding Of Yorkshire Council has moved to launch a formal investigation into local waste management, focusing on environmental monitoring and how residents’ complaints are handled. A heated debate at County Hall in Beverley heard how the so-called ‘Willerby whiff’ has become a ‘stink mountain’ – and has led to calls for an overhaul of the council’s whole approach to reporting and reducing smells.
Because the issue with one specific site has been going on for so long, local people are becoming increasingly cynical, according to one councillor. “Public faith is breaking down,” Cllr Zahra Saribal (Conservative – Willerby and Kirk Ella Ward) told County Hall.
The debate was sparked by a motion from a Cllr Saribal who has fielded countless complaints about the Wastewise site, near the A164 on the edge of Willerby. The council chamber heard how many residents feel ’embarrassment when hosting visitors’ because of the strong smells from the site, which used to be called Biowise and is run by FCC Environment.
Plans are taking shape for the large bio-waste and waste recovery site to significantly expand. Bosses at the facility are hoping to make big improvements to the composting area and develop new pollution control measures to reduce smells around East Yorkshire.
However, during an East Riding Council meeting on Wednesday afternoon, council members decided to take action. They voted to carry the motion and refer the issue to the authority’s specialist Environment and Regeneration Overview and Scrutiny Sub-Committee.
More scrutiny and strengthening environmental accountability
The motion requested that the sub-committee consider setting up a dedicated Review Panel to conduct an evidence-based inquiry into current practices. If established, the panel will scrutinise several key areas, including environmental monitoring, improving ways for residents to raise environmental concerns, strengthening accountability and improving routes for public reporting.
As part of the debate in Beverley, the councillors demanded evidence from a broad mix of stakeholders, including local residents, parish councils, ward councillors, internal council services, and the Environment Agency. The evidence will be gathered together to press for more lasting change – with a focus on the smell situation near Willerby.
Following the investigation, the panel will report its findings back to the council with formal recommendations aimed at improving resident engagement and building better trust in how environmental issues are resolved across the region.
The smell from the waste site is becoming unbearable for local people and they feel their voice is not being heard, Cllr Zahra Saribal told the meeting. “Residents are trapped in a loop. Dialogue exists, but the meetings are failing to deliver the transparency or results that residents deserve,” she said.
Local residents have lodged numerous sustained complaints over the years, highlighting the stench and ‘putrid smells’ emanating from the Wastewise site.
Its planned expansion could see it receiving, managing and sorting waste from recycling centres and from kerbside collections across the East Riding. The plans could also mean the facility receiving residual household and commercial waste and carrying out shredding of waste prior to energy recovery.
The ambitious proposal is from FCC Environment, the operator of the Wastewise site. The new plans could allow for the removal of recyclable material and the storage and bulking of a range of waste streams, including street sweepings.
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Local people need ‘action and not excuses’
The expansion worries Cllr Phillip Redshaw (Liberal Democrat – Cottingham North) who told the chamber the facility is aiming to more than double its processing capacity – from 90,000 to 215,000 tonnes a year.
“Residents are rightly concerned,” he said. “We need to ask ourselves if our existing monitoring and complaints systems are fit for purpose. Accountability is severely lacking. We need a complaints process that delivers action and not excuses.”
According to Cllr Richard Meredith (Conservative – Dale), it is a case of the ‘Willerby whiff’ morphing into a ‘stink mountain’ and something needs to be done.
“It has upgraded from a whiff into a stink,” he said. “The processes need to be looked into how it is measured. It is the most inspected anaerobic digester in Europe. But despite how much it is inspected, the stink persists. That proves the measure applied is not appropriate.”
Cllr Meredith explained the new plans for the site would bring some of the waste maturation indoors, which could help manage the smell. But he warned the chamber that the issue was not isolated to Willerby – Cottingham, Kirk Ella and other nearby villages in the East Riding were really suffering too.
“The issue is, have our officers got tools to take meaningful action to tackle nuisance?” he asked the chamber.
‘Our communities deserve better’ the council chamber heard
Councillors argued that much stronger enforcement for smells and other problematic issues were urgently needed.
Cllr Victoria Aitken (Conservative – Howdenshire) told the meeting: “Regulation means nothing when it is not enforced. The Environment Agency itself must be subject to strong scrutiny – our communities deserve better.”
FCC Environment manages the Biowise site and is welcoming further input from local residents and people from across the region ahead of a final shaping of the plans before they go to East Riding Council’s planning committee.
The next consultation event is being held on Thursday, November 19, between 3pm and 7pm at the Mercure Hull Grange Park Hotel. A newsletter with further details is being delivered to around 3,500 properties too, including parts of Cottingham and Skidby.
Any bad smells from anywhere in the East Riding can be reported through the authority’s current system, via the council’s website.
To find all the planning applications, traffic diversions, road layout changes, alcohol licence applications and more, visit the Public Notices Portal.
