REVEALED: Rodbourne pong DID come from local waste plant
The bad smell has plagued Rodbourne residents for several years
Last updated 24th May 2022
The notorious Rodbourne Pong has gone.
And it did come from the waste processing plant at Waterside Park in Rodbourne Cheney, as so many had said it did.
After scores of complaints by residents in Rodbourne and Rodbourne Cheney last year were taken up by ward councillors, Swindon Borough Council - which owned the company Public Power Solutions, running the plant at the recycling and waste centre - appointed Arup to investigate.
And the findings of that investigation, which has not been published, say the noxious smell, which had been likened to a ‘cheesy-vomit‘ stench, did come from the drying plant where household rubbish was dried out and shredded and turned into industrial fuel.
'Not appropriate to comment further at this time'
Councillor Kevin Parry, Swindon Borough Council’s Cabinet Member for Waste Collection and Disposal & Highways Maintenance, said: "We have received an initial update from the company leading the investigation into the ‘Rodbourne pong’ and that early assessment suggested the smell was coming from the Solid Recovered Fuel (SRF) plant at our Household Waste Recycling Centre site.
"We are currently reviewing the detail of an initial draft report following the investigation to assess any actions we may need to consider in the wake of all the company’s findings so it would not be appropriate to comment further at this time".
'A smell free summer for the first time in years'
Former leader of the Labour group of councillors and ward member for Rodbourne Cheney Jim Grant was not so reticent.
He said: "This is really great news for the residents of Rodbourne Cheney who have had to suffer the smell for so long. We can all look forward to a smell free summer for the first time in years.
"However, this outcome is a bitter-sweet one for local residents many of whom have campaigned along with local councillors for several years in the knowledge that the smell was obviously coming from the PPS plant.
"Had the council listened to local residents we would not have had to undertake a constant media campaign; held public meeting and continued to report them smell on and almost daily basis while the council continued to ignore what was blindly obvious to local people.
"More importantly, local people would not have had their lives blighted by the smell which at its height caused people to be house-bound due to the severity of the smell which meant they couldn’t open a window never mind spend time in the gardens. This was particularly distressing during lockdown and during periods of hot weather during the summer.
"I believe the residents of Rodbourne are owed an apology by the council for having caused them so much distress over so many years".
'A cheesy vomit smell'
If the Arup report is correct, the cessation of the pong has come because the rubbish which was turned into fuel at Waterside Park is now transported to an incinerator/energy recovery plant near Bristol by the new holders of the borough council’s £58m contract Viridor.
At a public meeting held about the noxious smell last winter in Rodbourne Cheney, resident after resident told bosses from PPS they were convinced the smell came from the recycling plant.
One member of the public said: "The small from the sewage plant has been going on for years and we all know what it is. This is different – it’s a cheesy vomit smell and it started about five years ago. Something changed around then".
But the company’s manging director Bernie Brannan said it didn’t think it was the source of the particularly noxious stink.
He said: "It does smell at the site – it’s a waste-processing site. But it’s like your wheelie-bin, if you open it, it smells, if you close it and move away, it’s gone. We don’t get the cheese commit smell onsite, and we don’t think that’s coming from the site. But we are keeping an open mind".