Waste burning plant in Avonmouth allowed to expand despite fly concerns
Nearby residents worry it could see their homes infested with flies
Last updated 26th Aug 2021
Residents near a rubbish burning plant in Avonmouth are worried their homes could become infested with flies as the site is allowed to expand.
Planning committee members “reluctantly” approved the application for the closed facility formerly run by New Earth Solutions, which residents blamed for a huge plague of flies in the area lasting several years.
They said there were no planning reasons to refuse permission, so new owners Zeus Renewables will now be able to burn both waste wood and non-recyclables, and increase the combustible amount from 120,000 to 156,343 tonnes a year.
Twenty-nine lorry trips to and from the site off Zinc Road will also be allowed per day.
They said they had to “hope” the Environment Agency, which is responsible for controlling issues such as flies and pollution from waste facilities, would “do its job properly”.
Committee members made their decision after three residents pleaded with them to reject the application, and a local councillor said the timing was wrong as it could interfere with an ongoing investigation into the source of the fly problem in Avonmouth.
The residents said it would add to “horrendous odours” and air pollution from other waste plants in the area, and could see a return of the flies which “pose a public health risk”, according to a report to the meeting on August 11.
The report said Don Alexander, Labour councillor for Avonmouth and Lawrence Weston, referred the decision to a planning committee because: “The proposed increase in tonnage to be processed would not be acceptable at a time when we have an existing insect problem in the area which is now being scientifically investigated.”
New Earth Solutions denied it was responsible for the fly infestation after its nine-year waste contract with the West of England Partnership came to an end in April 2020.
The low carbon energy facility has been closed since 2016.
Zeus Renewables bought the facility and the mechanical biological treatment (MBT) plant next door from New Earth in 2010.
Committee member Steve Pearce, who was the cabinet member for waste under the previous Labour administration, told members: “Refuse-derived fuel could be anything that’s in your black bin.
“One would hope that the prior processing in the MBT unit would remove all of the things that you don’t want to burn. Of course, there’s a degree of uncertainty as to how perfect that process would be.”
Labour councillor Philippa Hulme said the committee did not know enough about the waste fuel to make a decision. “We don’t know exactly what’s going to be burnt and therefore we don’t know what pollutant gases are going to result,” she said.
But the council’s head of development control, Gary Collins, said the Environment Agency was responsible for controlling issues like air pollution and flies.
The agency issues permits to control how facilities operate and can withdraw them if it considers the conditions have been breached, Mr Collins said.
Labour councillor Paul Goggin said: “I feel that we’re going to have to rely on the Environment Agency to make this decision, as the experts, because I think it all does come down to the flies, the pollution, what is going to be burnt, how it’s going to be burnt and what exactly the emissions are going to be.
“And I’m struggling to find a planning reason for turning this down.”
The nine-strong committee voted unanimously to approve the application.