Residents of Gelligaer have voiced their concerns at a public meeting about the “unbearable” smell coming from a nearby farm, quarry and recycling plant.
Around 75 people from the village attended a public meeting held by cllr Wynne David on Monday, July 23.
Cllr David, who represents the St Cattwg ward, explained to residents why he was in favour of the Bryn Group’s plans to relocate a screening bund closer to the village of Gelligaer.
In 2013, the site was granted planning permission for its existing quarry, enabling the extraction of around 977,000 tonnes of high quality pennant sandstone.
Concerns have mounted recently however regarding the site’s recycling plant, with residents complaining of an “unbearable smell” coming from the site.
The meeting lasted around two hours and was described by Mr David as “quite stormy at times”.
Gelligaer resident Harriet Weyman, who attended the meeting, said: “For over 10 years now the smell has been bad, they have put measures in place but it’s still not good enough.
“We have major smell and the rat issues, and we have complained to the council, Environmental Health and Bryn quarry but they don’t want to know.”
Residents also aired their concerns about noise levels and dust coming from the site.
Ms Weyman said: “The dust is unbelievable. It’s like it all year round, regardless of whether it is hot or cold, it is a big issue for us.
“We can hear machinery from the site as early as 5 am, and when we complain, again nothing is done.”
The recycling plant has long attracted anger from residents. In 2010, a petition was delivered to the Welsh Assembly demanding that it be shut down.
Speaking after the meeting, Mr David said: “I attended the public meeting held in Gelligaer Community Centre on Monday 23rd July where I attempted to justify the stance I took at the Planning Committee and answer all the questions posed by residents, some of which were not related to this application.”
Mr David attempted to explain to residents that he supports the planning application so that greater protection to residents can be provided.
He said: “If this application is approved there are six conditions, three of which are designed to protect local residents, including hours of operation and suppression of dust.
“If the application is rejected tonight it was my opinion that the status quo would prevail which wouldn’t help residents.”
The Bryn Group admitted that the smell from the site has been an issue recently, but blamed peat fires as the cause.
A spokeswoman said: “The smell has been due to an ongoing peat fire at the site that we believe was started deliberately. South Wales Fire and Rescue Service and Caerphilly County Borough Council have now helped us put a plan in place to address it.
“We don’t have a rat problem on site and we enforce strict pest control policy that is regularly inspected by the council and our customers.
“It has been a very difficult time recently for dust due to the weather. We have been implementing dust suppression on our site and the council have granted us permission to wet roads earlier and later.
“As far as noise complaints are concerned, our farming equipment operates during farming hours and doesn’t fall under planning or environmental restrictions.”
It is understood that Hefin David, Assembly Member for Caerphilly, will now take residents’ concerns to Public Health Wales.
Dr David said: “Local councillors and both the current and previous Assembly Member have been contacted numerous times over the years by constituents.
“Whilst we acknowledge that enforcement is a matter for both Caerphilly County Borough Council and Natural Resources Wales, we would ask for a roundtable meeting to investigate the problems further.”
Bryn Group welcomed the suggestion of a roundtable discussion, adding: “We are willing to listen to resident and address their concerns. Our discussion group will hopefully work to improve communication.”