Penrith MP Markus Campbell-Savours has questioned if regulations used by the Environment Agency or "strict enough" and questioned if the agency was capable of monitoring and enforcing business it regulates during a public meeting held in Penrith on Thursday evening that was attended by 70 people from the local area to discuss the “Penrith Pong”.
During the two hour meeting held at Castletown Community Centre Mr Campbell said he wanted to know if "regulators are doing their job".
Labour MP Campbell-Savours called the meeting after carrying out an online survey earlier this year about industrial odour issues in Penrith.
During the meeting he confirmed the survey had received just 222 responses from residents but Campbell-Savours said there were "questions" about existing odour pollution rules and the issue of odours in the town.
He added "When I have people contacting me on a regular basis telling me how awful it is – intermittent but still awful – then it is right for me to be questioning whether the regulators are doing their job”.
The meeting was called to look at odour issues from industrial processes but very quickly became focused on just one company after the MP announced that a representative from the Leo Group who operate the Omega Proteins plant, was in the room and hoped they would answer questions or make comment.
The public was invited to describe their experiences of odour issues in Penrith with some saying the issues are not as bad as 20 or 30 years ago.
Others including a man who said he has only moved to Penrith recently but his pregnant wife is regularly sick from the odours.
Another man claims he was walking in the area and discovered a sheep’s foot in the road.
Other residents made reference to odours from the spreading of materials on farmland causing odour issues claiming the farms involved are owned by the company also and should be regulated and require permits to carry out the muck spreading.
Before the meeting Penrith.Town asked Marcus Campbell-Savours if he had engaged with Westmorland and Furness Council on the issue of Odours as part of a statutory nuisance investigation the council has been investigating launched following the intervention of the now former MP for Penrith Dr Neil Hudson to requests made by local campaigner Jeff Thomson.
In response Campbell-Savours said he was totally discounting the council’s investigation as worthless and did not believe it had any merit and no meaningful powers that possibly needed legislation changes to change the lack of powers for councils.
Westmorland and Furness Council said the council has completed its statutory nuisance investigation into the plant but has yet to finalise the outcomes of the investigation.
The Environment Agency as the statutory body responsible for regulating and issuing permits to operate for the Omega site said that following an inspection of the Omega Proteins plant in June it found no breaches in the plant's environmental operating permit.
The Environment Agency has said: "We carry out regular site inspections of this plant, which include auditing gas emission controls, and continue to have discussions with the operator about managing odours from the site."
At the end of the meeting as part of his closing remarks Marcus Campbell-Savours said he would use his parliamentary privileges to make any comments or statements if needed to avoid legal action against him and that is any of his constituents face legal threats or action related to the issue of odours he would never set foot in the Omega site.
After the meeting Gillian Barnes Head of Communications for the LEO Group told our reporter “As a company in Penrith we welcome Markus engaging with the community. Although we are still disappointed that Markus has not as yet opened a dialogue with us we hope following this meeting he will come and visit the site to learn more about our business, the processes and the importance we play in the agriculture industry and energy sector. We welcome anyone who wants to know more about our company to contact us directly.”
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