Date set for Hafod landfill odour inquiry

Alec Doyle – Local democracy reporter

A Senedd Petitions Committee inquiry into foul odours coming from a landfill site in north Wales will take place on September 22.

The committee agreed last month to launch a probe following a petition by local residents which gathered 1,125 signatures calling for ‘Natural Resources Wales to revoke the environmental permit and ensure the closure of Enovert’s, Hafod Landfill Site in Wrexham’.

The five Senedd members on the committee – Chair Carolyn Thomas MS, former First Minister Vaughan Gething MS, Rhys ab Owen MS, Luke Fletcher MS and Joel James MS – agreed to hear evidence from environmental permit regulator NRW, Wrexham Council and Hafod site operator Enovert.

Nuisance

The committee’s goal is to determine how all three agencies are working to resolve the ongoing issue of nuisance smells that have blighted the communities of Johnstown, Rhostyllen, Ponciau and Ruabon for two decades.

All three will give oral evidence on how they are addressing the petitioners’ concerns. Campaigning residents who want to see and end to the odour problems and the closure of the site will not be able to speak but can submit up to five questions for the committee members to consider as they question the agencies.

Resident Steve Gittins, a leading opponent of the landfill site and the man behind the petition, said that following heavy rainfall this week the smell had increased once more.

‘Headaches’

In a letter to Wrexham Council’s Public Protection department he said: “Long-term exposure to much lower concentrations of hydrogen sulphide than the industrial “human irritant effect” level of 20,000 parts per billion (ppb) in the air can cause real and lasting harm, particularly among vulnerable individuals.

“Levels recorded in Johnstown  – persistently above five ppb – represent a chronic public exposure to hydrogen sulphide concentrations that breach World Health Organisation guidance and cause well-documented effects including headaches, nausea, and fatigue, aggravation of respiratory symptoms, sleep disturbance and anxiety related to persistent odour intrusion and diminished quality of life and emotional stress.

“These are not minor nuisances but real public health and wellbeing concerns.”

In an email update to residents NRW said: “We fully recognise the significant concerns within the local community about Hafod Landfill, and we are taking this issue very seriously.

“Over the past year, a significant amount of resources has been utilised to regulate the landfill and reduce any offsite impacts.

“We will continue to keep the community informed as our regulatory activities progress.

“We only revoke permits if we believe the operation poses a serious risk to the environment or human health, and if all other measures to reduce the odour have been exhausted. At present, the operators are still working through a number of actions to address the issues, and we are regulating them closely.”