A Pudsey councillor has welcomed Yorkshire Water’s efforts to demonstrate a new multi-million pound wetland scheme won’t create found odours for nearby residents.
Last month Cllr Simon Seary (Cons) raised concerns around what he claimed was a lack of investigation into possible odours emitting from the Hough Side road scheme, which would treat storm wastewater, improve water quality and reduce storm overflows into Pudsey Beck.
Cllr Seary was concerned about how the risk of odour had been classed as “low”, without any monitoring or modelling data.
But Cllr Seary says he has received an update from Leeds City Council’s Planning Department, following further discussions with Yorkshire Water.
“Yorkshire Water have confirmed they are commissioning a new technical report to demonstrate that odour should not be a concern, and will produce a detailed pack outlining how the site will be operated and monitored,” he said.
“This will form part of the planning approval, meaning any future issues can be fully enforced if necessary.
“Once this report is received and reviewed, I’m happy for the application to be determined by planning officers under delegated powers rather than requiring a full Plans Panel decision – provided all the safeguards are in place.
“This scheme will also create an area residents can enjoy, while improving the environment and helping manage surface water in a more natural way.”
Yorkshire Water said last month they had ‘conducted all assessments and preliminary tests that a construction of this type requires’.
Their statement said: “According to these assessments, there is low risk of any odour from the site, and Environmental Health did not raise any concerns on our initial planning submission. Additionally, we already have two integrated construction wetlands – at Clifton and Clayton West – and have not experienced any issues with odour at these sites.”
Yorkshire Water has also offered to meet Cllr Seary at one of their existing wetland sites in the near future to discuss some of his concerns.
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