Residents kick up a stink over sewage farm smell
A SEWAGE works in Stockport is so smelly that United Utilities has set up a phone line for people to report when it stinks too much.
Residents in Cheadle Heath have been plagued by an ‘unpleasant, sickly’ odour from the waste water treatment works on Heathside Park Road on and off for months.
The problem was created by a backlog of excess sludge which built up at the site after a mechanical fault.
United Utilities bosses say the issue has now been resolved and reports in the area suggest the smell has disappeared – for the time being.
The organisation has also written to nearby residents telling them that if the smell returns to ring a phone number and quote ‘Stockport WwTW Odour’.
Philip Harding, a councillor for Edgeley and Cheadle Heath, said: “It has been a problem for a long time and has been intermittently for around four months.
“We have had a lot of complaints, there was a sickly, unpleasant odour of sewage that meant people couldn’t sit in their garden or open their windows.
“I realise sometimes things go wrong but United Utilities needs to understand if this happens it affects a huge amount of people.”
A large number of complaints over the smell came from nearby Kenilworth Road.
But complaints have come from as far away as Edgeley Road, around half a mile away.
Once the mechanical fault was repaired Paul Ide, production manager at the treatment works wrote to residents.
He wrote: “We’re sorry you may have noticed an increase in odour recently from our wastewater treatment works in Stockport. In June we had a fault on some equipment, which resulted in a higher quantity of sludge being held on site.
The fault is now repaired and the plant is back to its normal process.
“We are working hard to minimise odours from our site. We have invested in additional equipment and have also installed an odour control system on site.”
Any smell can be reported by calling 0345 672 3723 quoting project number Stockport WwTW Odour.