Local resident Tina Richmond has voiced her concerns over the smells that are coming from Yorkshire Water Treatment Plant in Beverley.
Tina says that the odours have become so bad that they are beginning impact on her day-to-day life.
In an attempt to escalate things further Tina has started a petition and also arranged to meet with local MP Graham Stuart to hand over her petition and discuss the issue further.
Speaking to HU17.net Tina said;
“The odours are coming the sewage-treatment site really affecting my daily life. There is no escaping them. If I just want to go for a walk along the Beverley Beck or want to do some gardening, there is an awful odour that invades the whole area.”
Tina says at times the stench is so bad she has little choice but to close the doors and windows to stop the smell from penetrating her home, she said;
“Sometimes when you sit in your house you can fill the smell coming in. It is not only me who is affected by this problem, there are a lot of people living Beverley, who have said the same thing.”
Yorkshire Water says they are maintaining contact with residents in the area that they will have more news about the project later in the year. A spokesperson for the company told HU17.net;
“We have already announced last year that we will be upgrading Beverley waste-water treatment works with a £15 million scheme to improve the performance of the site and reduce odours.”
“Phase one of this project has already begun, which involves initial scoping works onsite, and we expect full construction to start next year.”
“We wrote to customers earlier this year to let them know that we’ll share our plans at a public event in Autumn this year, and we’ll be writing to them again this week with further details.”
Tina, however, is calling for more communication from the company, she said;
“We as residents have to put up with these offensive smells every day, and if they are going to use £15 million effectively, every resident has a right to know what is going to happen when it is going to happen before the end of 2017.”
Cllr David Elvidge when asked about the issue said;
“All the ward councillors fully support this petition and would ask Yorkshire Water to confirm when they will be starting work on the promised waste-water treatment plant rebuild which we are assured will be completed by 2017.”
There are also concerns which Tina feels are shared by the residents in Beverley, the local authorities and Yorkshire Water as the inevitable arrival of new homes adds further pressure to the water-treatment site.
For now, Tina aims to make sure the problem she faces and other residents here in Beverley have to put up with relating to the smells remains firmly in the public eye as she looks to put pressure Yorkshire Water to resolve the issue as soon as possible.
Anyone who would like to support Tina signed the petition can do so by clicking here.
ABOVE: Tina outside the main gate to the Beverley Water Treatment Site
ABOVE Chemicals are pumped into the air to help reduce the smell
These smells have been on the go for over 50 years now and have only gotten worse as the size of Beverley has grown. My wife and I started a petition in the 70s because the smells from this plant was so bad and all they did then was to mask it with chemicals, which was only the lesser of the two evils, so as you can see this problem is still ongoing after all these years and I expect it will still continue even after YWA finishes these upgrades to the plant.
This plant is situated in the wrong location, as is now too close to the town with all the development that has happened over the years,so the solution would be to build a modern plant in a completely new location, away from the urban area, but I cannot see YWA doing that off their own backs.