Angry exchanges in council over stinking landfill issue

There were angry exchanges at a Wyre Council’s full council meeting last night as emotions ran high during a discussion over the noxious, stinking landfill site which has been plaguing communities for over a year.

Voices became raised after Fleetwood resident and campaigner Dr Barbara Kneale quizzed council leader, Coun Michael Vincent, about the landfill emissions being a statutory nuisance.

At the meeting, on Thursday April 13, she asked what the delays were in the council serving an abatement notice to get the site closed down, and called for the authority to do more as landlord of the landfill site.

Campaigners in the public gallery clashed with Mr Vincent, saying it was a disgrace more was not being done, before leaving the chamber, after which the debate on the issue continued.

The Jameson Road Landfill site in Fleetwood was reopened by operators Transwaste in late 2023 after previous operators Suez had closed it.

Since then, the odorous chemical emissions, likened to rotten eggs, have continued to be a problem, with some people complaining of nose bleeds and breathing difficulties.

On Tuesday after a short suspension of activities was ordered by the Environment Agency (EA) over the emissions, the site controversy reopened again, allowing tipping to restart.

EA said this was because operators Transwaste Ltd had met the conditions listed in the suspension notice.

Calls for abatement notice

Dr Kneale said: “ Since Jameson Road Landfill was re-opened in late 2023 there has been over 4,000 complaints to the Environment Agency and over 1500 complaints to Wyre Borough Council about the unreasonable and unacceptable odour which has been impacting upon the health and day to day activities of local residents.

“ I would like to ask Councillor Vincent what actions have been taken to investigate this odour issue, including how many meetings (and who with) has WBC attended and if not why not, has Wyre Borough Council taken legal advice about the issue of an abatement notice, if so, who with and what is that advice? Given this situation has now lasted longer than 12 months, what is the delay?

Reading from a statement, Coun Vincent explained that the only way an abatement notice could be served was if it was backed up by evidence from long-suffering residents which needed to be submitted every day in the form of filled-in diary sheets.

He said that so far, of 1,049 diary sheets sent to households by the council, only 19 had been returned to Wyre , and of those 19 only one had been returned more than one.

Need for diary evidence

However, he said an abatement notice would not be a quick solution to the issue and the responsibility was on EA to use its greater powers to “send Trabswaste back to Yorkshire”.

He said: “To be a statutory nuisance, we must prove with evidnce that there is nuisance that has unreasonably and substantially interfered with use or enjoyment of homes on premises

“The council has received a great number of complaints about the smell and there is no doubt in our minds that it has interfered with our residents’ enjoyment of their homes

“However, if we are to take action …and prove there is statutory nuisance that must be abated, we must do so with evidence that proves not just the presence of nuisance but the extent of the impact it has had on residents’ enjoyment of their properties.”

He said this could only be done by residents across Fleetwood and the worst affected parts of Cleveleys and Thornton filling in the diary sheets every day, explaining how it was affecting them, and to continue to do so even after an abatement notice had been served.

He added: “I hope that I have made clear that it is not the council policy that requires these, it’s what the court will require.

“Even when we have served the abatement notice, Transwaste will have the right to appeal within 21 days. While the appeal is ongoing, they have the right to continue tipping, unless the EA intervenes, but we have reached the point where we must take action, and this is the best option we have in the short term, however unsatisfactory it may be.

“An abatement notice will not be a quick solution. We are likely to have to fight Transwate through the courts, even after it has been served, but are willing to serve one, once we have the diary evidence.”

He said the council was also, in the meantime, instructing a legal team which had expert knowledge on issues regarding landfill sites.

He added:“There is no delay, we are following the law, we do not make it.”

Landlord issue

In a second part to the question, Dr Kneale asked: “The delay is related to a second duty of WBC, as owner of Jameson Road landfill and landlord to Transwaste. Wyre Council has a duty to review the tenancy agreement, in light of EA’s enforcement actions, and the adverse impact on local residents.

“This delay is due to financial concerns that Suez may demand back a guarantee of £.1.3 million as written in the lease. This financial risk equates to approximately £20 per resident of Fleetwood, Thornton and Cleveleys, Knott End, Preesall and Hambleton, all those affected.

“Can Coun Vincent confirm what action Wyre is taking with respect to a formal review of the lease, and possible breaches which could lead to the eviction of Transwaste, and is the council yet again going to focus purely on the financial aspect of this situation, rather than helping the wellbeing of residents for the sake of £20 per resident?”

This then led to angry exchanges between residents in the gallery, including Dr Kneale and Coun Vincent, with the leader angrily calling for the visitors to stop interrupting him, before apologising to Dr Kneale.

The Mayor of Wyre, Coun Jane Preston, chairing the meeting, called for order on several occasions.

Mr Vincent replied “Firstly,  Suez have not paid a guarentee.Transwaste have the bond, Suiz guarentees Traswaste’s interest in the lease. I don’t care one bit about the bond.

“When it comes to the lease itself, those rights are carefully defined.

“They have a lease and the protection under that lease and I don’t want them to. This is not about the money. We are a debt-free council with millions in reserve, We don’t care about the money, we want this to be over for everybody. But we cannot just terminate their lease. When EA served them with notice they had until April 10 to comply with that notice. Had they not complied, they would have been in breach of the lease. At that point we could serve them with notice,

“It is up to EA to find them in breach of their permit, which we can then use to serve them with that notice and start forfeiture proceedings. I do not want to keep Transwaste on that site any second longer than we have to.

“But we are bound by the law. We are all desperate to get rid of them.”

But Dr Kneale replied: “They are there because of Wyre Council.”

After Dr Kneale and supporters left the gallery, the debate continued, with a number councillors agreeing that the ongoing problem with Transwaste was unacceptable and that more pressure needed to be put on EA to use its powers.

A motion submitted by Councillors Vincent, Berry, Kay and Rendell, successfully amended by the opposition Labour group, was unanimously carried, in which the council calls on the Environment Agency, Wyre Council and Lancashire County Council to ensure that the Jameson Road landfill site is capped off to prevent any further smells blighting the lives of residents and that the site is then permanently closed.

It was also resolved to make more diary sheets available to residents.