Wilsden chicken slaughterhouse in breach of permit

7:00am Friday 21st September 2012 in News

Harecroft resident David Driver (left) and Councillor Mike Ellis outside the slaughterhouse Harecroft resident David Driver (left) and Councillor Mike Ellis outside the slaughterhouse

Bosses at a controversial chicken slaughterhouse, who have been accused of blighting a village near Bingley with its “horrendous stink”, have been told to clean up their act.

Chesterfield Poultry, which has a slaughterhouse in Station Road, Harecroft, near Wilsden , has been served with a notice by the Environment Agency after being caught breaching the terms of its operating permit five times during an inspector’s visit this week.

Tim Shaw, of the Environment Agency’s pollution prevention control team, yesterday confirmed two of the breaches were related to “odours” from the slaughterhouse.

The Telegraph & Argus understands that, if the company continues to breach its operating conditions, it could be hit with a fine of up to ten per cent of its turnover.

Mr Shaw said: “We have notified the company of these breaches and have asked them to remedy them. We expect that this may help to improve the situation, but it is unlikely to eliminate odours from the site.”

However, fed-up villagers say they can no longer put up with the smells.

Robert Armstrong, a former parish councillor, said: “It is like living with a dead rat, it is that bad. If you could see it, the stench would be visible from space. It should have never been given a licence in the first place. Everybody wants it closed.” David Driver, 67, of Old Allen Road, said the stink made people “feel sick” and means villagers cannot sit outside or hang out washing.

Bradford Councillor Michael Ellis said people’s lives “were being blighted” by the horrendous smells from the slaughterhouse at The Haven Poultry Farm, and called for the Environment Agency to take more action if the problem is not resolved.

Coun Ellis (Con, Bingley Rural) said: “What I am going to do is speak to the residents, speak to the parish council and the company. I hope that they will be able to take a responsible attitude to their neighbours. We can then have a hotline so that the residents can contact a designated person at the company to report a terrible smell, so they can go out there and, hopefully, immediately stop it.”

Comments(12)

vax2002 says...
9:01am Fri 21 Sep 12

The smell is bacteria.

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Harecroft Resident says...
9:08am Fri 21 Sep 12

It's unbelievable that this company were allowed to INCREASE production when the stench has been causing problems for nearly two years now and Bradford Council were well aware of this. The idea that residents can have a hotline to contact a 'designated person' at the company is naive and pathetic. They've done nothing after hundreds of complaints from residents to the Environment Agency so they're not going to start cleaning up their act after a phone call from a resident. Also, phoning the company direct instead of the Environment Agency means that the complaint doesn't get logged by the Agency so then the number of complaints appears to reduce. Don't take the heat off the Environment Agency - this is their responsibility! We need to keep ringing until we get some positive action.

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Harecroft 2 says...
10:16am Fri 21 Sep 12

The Environment Agency have declined to do a mail shot to the surrounding area with their dedicated 24/7 manned complaint line of 0800 80 70 60 as they say this could affect their impartiality. This means that only a small proportion of complaints are getting through to the correct department.I urge all affected to ring that number every time there is a problem.
Too many deadlines and promises have been and gone already by this company the situation needs to be addressed by a department with teeth not dumbing down by phoning them direct or forming a local forum.

Next stop the telly and the national papers I think.

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Bone_idle18 says...
10:34am Fri 21 Sep 12

The Brother of the current director was imprisoned for human trafficking and employing illegal’s immigrants in their plant in Derby.

Another great, law abiding company and a credit to the district.

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BRADFORD ANGEL says...
12:36pm Fri 21 Sep 12

Bone_idle18 wrote:
The Brother of the current director was imprisoned for human trafficking and employing illegal’s immigrants in their plant in Derby.

Another great, law abiding company and a credit to the district.
What has that got to do with the smell.

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Bone_idle18 says...
12:57pm Fri 21 Sep 12

BRADFORD ANGEL wrote:
Bone_idle18 wrote:
The Brother of the current director was imprisoned for human trafficking and employing illegal’s immigrants in their plant in Derby.

Another great, law abiding company and a credit to the district.
What has that got to do with the smell.
Because it shows the company is happy to not follow the rules. they have previous in illegality!

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Bone_idle18 says...
12:57pm Fri 21 Sep 12

BRADFORD ANGEL wrote:
Bone_idle18 wrote:
The Brother of the current director was imprisoned for human trafficking and employing illegal’s immigrants in their plant in Derby.

Another great, law abiding company and a credit to the district.
What has that got to do with the smell.
It shows the type of people we're talking about.

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BRADFORD ANGEL says...
12:59pm Fri 21 Sep 12

Bone_idle18 wrote:
BRADFORD ANGEL wrote:
Bone_idle18 wrote:
The Brother of the current director was imprisoned for human trafficking and employing illegal’s immigrants in their plant in Derby.

Another great, law abiding company and a credit to the district.
What has that got to do with the smell.
Because it shows the company is happy to not follow the rules. they have previous in illegality!
Thank you point noted.

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Harecroft 2 says...
1:14pm Fri 21 Sep 12

Not just hearsay either
http://www.meatinfo.
co.uk/news/archivest
ory.php/aid/10241/Ex
-Chesterfield_Poultr
y_boss_jailed_for_tr
afficking.html

I'm sure a "quick" phoncall will solve the smell problem. NOT!

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Bone_idle18 says...
1:43pm Fri 21 Sep 12

It's a well know fact that chicken smell less if stunned before slaughter!

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sunniside says...
2:41pm Fri 21 Sep 12

Simple solution.
Find the sources of the smell.
Ask a local Company such as http://www.spooner.c
o.uk to quote for a plant to remove the smell & then insist the Company installs such a plant with a maintenance contract to ensure it is kept in good working order.

End Of Smells

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lazybeat says...
11:35pm Fri 21 Sep 12

salmonella on its way

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