Standard content for Members only
To continue reading this article, please login to your Utility Week account, Start 14 day trial or Become a member.
If your organisation already has a corporate membership and you haven’t activated it simply follow the register link below. Check here.
Yorkshire Water is giving a Hull community £50,000 to compensate them for bad smells from sewage treatment.
The company acknowledged that residents near Saltend wastewater treatment works had put up with unacceptable stink on and off since 2000.
However, a local councillor said the cash sum was “shameful” and only amounted to around £1 per person.
Richard Sears, community engagement manager, said: “We want to be a good neighbour and this trust fund underlines our commitment to working alongside the local community and doing what we can to give something back through this £50,000 cash fund.”
The company has set up a 10 person panel of councillors, residents and local business representatives to assess bids for the community fund.
Panel member and councillor Mike Bryan said: “The people living and working around Hull sewage works have patiently put up with odours for a long time.
He added: “I think we should welcome this generosity and I do hope this will be of real benefit to our community.”
However, East Ridings councillor John Dennis told the BBC he had proposed a fund twice the size.
He said: “Local residents have endured enormous discomfort and inconvenience over the past 12 years, ever since the Saltend wastewater plant first opened, and for Yorkshire Water to come up with a figure that equates to only around £1 per person is, frankly, shameful.”
Yorkshire Water installed a £3.5 million odour control unit in December 2011 that it said had significantly reduced the smell, leading to a drop in complaints.
Please login or Register to leave a comment.