East Yorkshire treatment plant pays out over odour control

A treatment plant in East Yorkshire has offered local residents £50,000 in compensation for odour control problems it has encountered of late.

The company installed a £3.5 million odour control unit to combat the problem last year, and they have offered the lump sum to local residence to support community projects as an apology.

In a statement, Richard Sears, from Yorkshire Water, said it was "unacceptable" that residents had put up with odours from the site for a number of years.

He 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."

However, the payment has been described as "shameful" by campaigners and local politicians. The compensation works out to around £1 per person, which does not compensate them for the foul smells that have been generated from the site of late.

Councillor John Dennis said: "When I initially proposed to them last summer that they should set up a community fund to help with projects in the area, I had suggested an amount twice that currently on the table."

Posted by Joseph Hutton