Dear Sir,
My letter is in response to the overpowering smell enveloping Newton Aycliffe on a regular basis and reported by Mrs A Proud last week. I know many in Newton Aycliffe don’t notice the problem, but that really is due to a person’s proximity to the business park. If you live anywhere near the border of the park, you can’t possibly have failed to notice this issue.
I reported this smell to the environmental health department quite a while ago and they supposedly looked into it and came back with no definitive answer as to which business is responsible. We do, however, have a Biogas business on the business park that deal with recycling food waste etc. Look up Biogas producers in Newton Aycliffe and you will find them. There is no certainty that the odour is coming from there, however it would seem to ‘fit’. Though obviously there may well be others that are also contributing to this issue. I was told that this particular company receives very few complaints therefore the environmental agency and this Biogas company feel there is nothing to be done – I beg to differ!
The smell does appear to be particularly bad at night right now, so perhaps the environmental people HAVE identified the culprit and perhaps believe that operating at night time will be less invasive for the residents. Well, I agree wholeheartedly with Mrs Proud, that it’s truly awful, at any time. The smell of rotting food and flesh is totally unacceptable and needs to be dealt with. I too have found it impossible to have windows open at night, even during the heatwave we experienced, due to the foul odour coming into my property. Sitting in one’s own garden has become unbearable at times too, usually on an evening. We get precious little pleasant weather, but this odour issue prevents us ordinary people enjoying our own little areas for relaxation.
I wonder perhaps that the environmental officers do their ‘checks’ at the wrong times. They need to be monitoring these emissions at random times of day AND night over a lengthy period of time, as the culprits may be operating only when they know they are not being monitored and therefore avoid being identified.
I have been close to vomiting with the smell, when walking close to the business park. No-one should ever feel that ill from odours emitted from supposedly ‘green businesses’, I literally was green!
I implore Aycliffe councillors, and anyone who else who has any official ‘clout’ in Aycliffe, to step in and try to identify the culprits, ‘name and shame them’ and get the problem dealt with once and for all, before Newton Aycliffe becomes a ‘no go area’ for comfortable residential living. I don’t want to feel ashamed of living here!
Mrs Wills