Glass plant to relocate after smell complaints

A group of neighbours who complained about a "smelly" glass recycling plant have won a "victory for community" after its owners decided to suspend operations and move to a new site.

Residents of Dinnington, near Rotherham, have spent a year campaigning against the odours produced by MP Universal Glass on Rotherham Road.

The area's MP, Jake Richards, has now confirmed that the plant has closed and will relocate. Richards said the "strength of feeling and demand for action" had enabled the issue to be resolved.

MP Universal Glass has not responded to a request for comment.

The Rother Valley MP said: "Residents were worried that the company had applied for an environmental permit, which would enable them to continue operating and further enhance the risk to safety and quality of life."

Residents told the BBC in February that the smell from the site was like living "near a dump site" and smelled like "faecal waste".

Rotherham Council issued an abatement notice to the company earlier this year and said in February that officers were monitoring the situation.

Following a series of public meetings with local councillors and a street surgery with Richards, more than 100 objections were submitted to the Environment Agency against granting the permit.

An Environment Agency spokesperson said officers carried out an inspection in March and found the site to be "operating in compliance with its registered waste exemptions" and were still "assessing an application for an environmental permit for the site".

Resident Michelle Hughes, who helped to organise the public meeting, described the news as a "triumph of community".

"We kept the momentum up with impact statements. It was real community spirit," she said.

"They were getting so much flack from the local community that I don't think they could continue.

"We hadn't seen the lorries entering the site or had the smell for a while.

"I'm ecstatic. We can have a summer, we can hang our washing out and have barbecues – normal life is back."

Another local resident, Toni Feek, said she was "extremely happy".

"This means so much to me and my family, as well as the wider community. We will be able to sit in our garden this summer and enjoy the outdoors with our new baby."

It is not known where Universal Glass is looking to move the recycling business but according to Richards, finding an "appropriate" location is key.

"This is a big industrial site very near residential dwellings. I'm not against industrial sites that obviously provide jobs and keep our country moving, but it needs to work with local people who are living there.

"I'm sure they do really important work in the supply chains of our country and our economy but there just must be better sites for it that don't have families living within 50 metres."

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