John and I were out again this morning talking to people in the area where the appalling smells are worst, towards the lower end of the Triangle, nearest to Limekiln Lane.  However although the smells today were not as bad as they often are they were quite bad enough to reach the flats at the top of Rankin Street even though a brisk wind was blowing.

A big question remains about where the smells are coming from.  Most local people we have spoken to insist they are from Tate & Lyle and in all fairness to the management they have ‘held their hands up’ and admitted to some particular incidents – but they believe the problem is not just from the works.   The residents asked the managers to attend an open meeting of residents to hear first hand what people are experiencing.  However they have not accepted that invitation from the community and instead suggest tours confined to no more than six residents at a time.

That is now the subject of a consultation exercise as the message we are getting loud and clear is that an open meeting that all can attend is preferred.  Nevertheless we are putting out to consultation.   Meanwhile we will identify some people who are willing to go on one of the factory tours ‘for not more than six at a time’ and the names and addresses will shortly be passed on to the Tate & Lyle management.

John took the opportunity to phone in to our Environmental Health Department to alert them to today’s smells which were quite strong enough to require remedial action, provided their source could be identified quickly.

The bottom line is that whatever the source local people should not have to live in such conditions and the sources, all of them, really must be found soon.

Watch this space.