Foul odours still annoying neighbours of Gething donor’s landfill site

Martin Shipton

Noxious odours have continued to upset residents living near a landfill site owned by the businessman who donated £200,000 to Vaughan Gething’s Welsh Labour leadership campaign, according to an update from Natural Resources Wales.

Neighbours of the Withyhedge site near Haverfordwest have been complaining about obnoxious smells emanating from it since 2023.

A statement issued on July 19 by NTW, the site’s regulator, said: “Work to manage landfill gas emissions which have impacted communities surrounding Withyhedge andfill must continue with pace, NRW said, as it confirmed that the requirements set out in recent enforcement notices served on the site have been met.

“NRW issued site operator Resources Management UK Ltd (RML) with two separate Regulation 36 enforcement notices on February 13 2024 and April 18 2024, setting out urgent steps to be taken by the operator to address the odour and landfill gas emission issues at the site.”

RML is one of a number of waste companies owned by Cardiff businessman David Neal, who as well as controversially donating £200,000 to Mr Gething’s Welsh Labour leadership campaign was given two suspended prison sentences after dumping toxic sludge in the sensitive Gwent Levels landscape.

Deadlines

The statement said: “The notices included a series of actions to be completed by specified deadlines. These included the capping of areas of the site, and the installation of infrastructure designed to collect and contain landfill gas at two separate areas of the site.

“NRW has now received and reviewed reports relating to the engineering works carried out by the operator to ensure they have been completed to the required standard. While these assessments confirm that the notice requirements have been met, NRW recognises that odours have continued to be reported and detected in communities surrounding the landfill beyond the deadlines set for the works. This is due, in part, to the time it takes for the engineering work to become fully operational and effective.

“Following NRW’s detailed audit of the system which collects and treats landfill gas at the site, several areas of concern have been identified. These have been outlined in detail with the operator’s directors, site management and RML’s specialist landfill consultant. The operator is now working on addressing the issues.

“While there has been a significant reduction in the number of odour complaints over recent weeks, any fugitive emissions of landfill gas can cause off-site odours. The focus of NRW’s continued regulatory presence on site will be to ensure RML continues to drive the improvements needed to the system with pace, and to ensure they demonstrate that they are effectively managing the landfill gas from their operations.

“NRW is also continuing its investigations at the site. Only when that process is completed can we determine if charges should be brought for any offence relating to breaches of their environmental permit conditions.

Landfill gases

Huwel Manley, head of south west operations at NRW, said: “Carrying out all the assessments required to determine compliance with an enforcement notice takes time. Landfills are dynamic entities and we needed to be sure that we had all the evidence and data required to ensure we could be satisfied that the operator had met the requirements set out in the Notice to improve the containment and collection of landfill gases at the site.

“However, compliance with this notice does not mean that the job is done. While the number of reports of odour has decreased significantly over recent weeks, we know that there are issues with the gas management system at the site which the operator must address. This has been the focus of our regulatory work in recent weeks, and this will continue over the coming days and weeks.

“We still have a range of enforcement options available to us under the regulations, and we will not hesitate to use them if required. The site remains under investigation, and we continue to press the operator to continue to work at pace and demonstrate that they are effectively managing landfill gas emissions at Withyhedge landfill.”

The multi-agency Incident Management Team – which includes representatives from NRW, Pembrokeshire County Council (PCC), Public Health Wales (PHW) and Hywel Dda University Health Board met this week to discuss the ongoing response to the issues at Withyhedge.

NRW says it will continue to carry out odour assessments while waste acceptance is paused at the site, and should the landfill resume waste disposal. The times and locations of odour assessments are driven by reports received by the public. People are encouraged to report odours as soon as they experience them via the dedicated online reporting form https://bit.ly/reportasmellwithyhedge or by calling 0300 065 3000.