Food waste plans in Aston Clinton get green light despite fears bad smells could get worse
Bucks councillors have had the final say today (1 October).
Controversial plans to allow more food waste to be disposed of at a disposal centre have been given the go-ahead today (1 October) despite worries bad smells from the site could be made even worse.
Olleco anaerobic digestion plant, on Samian Way in Buckland, Aston Clinton, currently treats food waste and general waste from restaurant chains.
But Buckinghamshire Council is now allowing even more food waste to be treated at the site and for leftover food packaging from takeaways, snack bars and cafes to be taken care of at the plant’s materials recycling facility, too.
Councillors voted unanimously in favour of passing the application at today's Strategic Sites Committee meeting, but with some ammendments.
Senior enforcement officer Mitchel Pugh said in the meeting that a rolling review clause would be possible, allowing them to check the development progress.
For example, if technology was developed to combat the odour issue, this could be factored in.
Mr Pugh also recommended a five year review to members.
The importance of communication with local residents was also stressed, to make them aware of developments.
This plan was hotly-contested before being discussed at a planning meeting in September, with councillors and 25 residents teaming up to raise concerns about odours from the site as a result of these changes.
Bill Chapple, councillor for Aston Clinton and Bierton, previously wrote:
"When this site was originally given planning permission the applicants said that all smells would be contained with the boundary of the site (if indeed there was any smell at all as they believed that there would not be any smell whatsoever).
"The pretty village of Buckland has been totally taken over by this nauseous smell and the villagers are restricted to be in their houses and cannot open their windows all year round.
"This village is now blighted for as long as this site remains operative.
"When people walk along the canal next to the site they experience this rotten smell and some have been physically sick."
Buckland Parish Council and Aston Parish Council also called for the changes to be refused, with the latter claiming current issues with the site must be "resolved" before any alterations are approved.
Despite this, the council’s environmental health officer considered the proposals to be acceptable.
Councillors sitting on the Strategic Sites Committee at Buckinghamshire Council considered this proposal in September after planning officers recommended it be approved.
But, after discussing the issue for almost four hours, councillors could not come to an agreement on the proposal.
They deferred a decision to allow Olleco to provide further information about the odour issue, in order to "reassure" councillors smells would not be made worse by the changes detailed in this application.
Olleco hit back three weeks later with four reports supporting their claims odours would not get worse in the surrounding areas.
With these documents and the environmental health officer’s comments in mind, planning chiefs decided to stick with their initial recommendation to approve the plans.
They wrote:
"On balance, the additional documentation does not provide any basis to deviate from the recommendation set out in the addendum to the initial committee report on 3 September, 2020.
"The changes proposed within the application are not considered to result in an adverse odour impact."
Councillors gave the final say and approved the plans when it was considered for the second time in today's meeting.