Gypsy site planning delay leaves bad smell in the air -Bedfordshire

From Bedfordshire on Sunday

A controversial Gypsy site looks set to be hit by further delays after an environmental officers’ recommendation that it be deferred for more odour tests.

Smell experts from Bedford Borough Council submitted a report to the authority’s planning committee requesting that a decision on the Meadow Lane Gypsy and Traveller site off the A421, be delayed while more tests are carried out.

According to the 34-page report, due before committee tomorrow night, the sticking point is over fears that if the site is given the go-ahead any complaints made from residents of Meadow Lane about smells from the nearby Anglia Water sewage works could allow the utility firm to challenge odour abatement notices.

This would mean the council would have to shut the Gypsy site down.

The authority’s Conservative group has long campaigned for the site to be pushed forward and members have been conducting their own site visits and reports since March.

Cllr Alison Field-Foster said: “We have had four councillors coming here twice a day for two weeks and the only smell there’s been has come from the abattoir which is not even on the site.

“I understand the officers want to put every eventuality to the people making the decisions. However, I don’t see the point in wasting more money on consultants on odour tests because to be honest nothing is more sensitive than the human nose and we’ve smelt nothing.” Deputy Mayor Charles Royden said he wants a decision to be made this week, adding: “I won’t say I’m confident the plans for the site will go through, but I’m sincerely hopeful.

“This should not be deferred, it should be determined and it should be approved.

"We have been pushing for this site as the most suitable and available across the borough for a long time, and it is clear that the right thing for everyone is for Meadow Lane to be approved and brought into use as soon as possible.

“We have worked hard to get a government grant in place to provide the funding.”