RE: “Bad smells are not from our operations” – Steve Sharratt of CRS Bio, last week

 

GOOD for you, Mr Sharratt, I don’t think these bad smells come from the High Heavens facility either! I live in the lower parts of Sands Valley, and at certain times when the wind is in the right direction, I too have been aware of a real pong in the air around this part of Sands, though perhaps it is a little more diffuse than Clay Lane and Booker residents have experienced.

This bad smell – no I think PONG is the right word – this pong has only been around for the past few months, but composting of green waste has been going on at the High Heavens facility for some years now, so if it was caused by that surely it would have been noticed a long time ago?

I have a compost heap myself that I use to break down vegetable waste and softer greenery from the garden into useful and nutritious soil for my plants, and it has never caused a smell like that one I experienced last Tuesday morning when hanging out some washing in my garden. Composted green waste smells a little nutty, with a rich earthly tone and I have never found it unpleasant, as this particular unwelcome pong is.

Yes, of course the local farmers fertilize their fields in due season, either with natural animal products or bagged fertilizer purchased from farm suppliers, and I can tell which is which as each has a different smell – if you live in the green belt you must expect it. Actually I don’t find either kind of fertilizer too unpleasant, but neither type smells the same this air-born pong we have had to endure this year.

I use the High Heavens facility from time to time and I have never noticed any unpleasant smells lingering about when I have been there. I have always found it clean and within reason remarkably tidy, with plenty of room to park vehicles to unload, and have nothing but praise for the staff.

I hope the information Mr Sharratt has been able to give the Environmental Agency proves successful in locating the real source of this awful nuisance and putting a stop to it as soon as possible.

Concerned Sands resident, full details supplied