Residents in Skellingthorpe continue to be frustrated with the smells, noises and black pollution plaguing their village, which the local district council are investigating with regular visits.
Several residents on Jerusalem Road and on other streets in the village have been trying to report the issue with a black soot-like substance coming from the nearby animal rendering plant since at least this summer.
Reports have been made to both North Kesteven District Council and to the company who operate the factory, A Hughes & Son, due to the increasingly worse smell and noise, as well as oily material still damaging residents’ property.
The black substance is still damaging the cars and property of local residents.
One resident complained that on November 23 the black pollution carried on for nearly an hour. This is despite the permit only allowing for a short 10 minute period of smoke for the boiler to start up, so any reports in excess of this time will be investigated.
North Kesteven District Council said it had spoken to residents and factory operators and carried out a number of investigations around odour emissions.
Samples have also been collected from properties for analysis and identification, while council officers reduced visits from every weekday to twice a week due to the low level of odour being witnessed and demands on officer time.
A Hughes and Son have also provided their own reports to the council. This includes odour monitoring information, which is currently being analysed by the council.
A sun chair was covered in the black soot like substance.
The site is owned by Leo Group and run by A Hughes & Son, a company which was bought by Lincoln Proteins Ltd — who wants to move its Skellingthorpe factory and create a £28 million animal rendering plant in Norton Disney, but said last month it “will not build anything without planning permission“.
When The Lincolnite contacted A Hughes & Son we were told that “no one from the business was available to comment”.
Local protesting against the plans in January 2018. | Photo: Jasper Weldon
A spokesperson for the council said: “North Kesteven District Council has communicated within the community of Skellingthorpe, confirming its responsibilities for regulating emissions from the Jerusalem Farm site and the operator’s requirements to comply with permit conditions relating to emissions, monitoring and record keeping.
“The council’s Environmental Protection Team has been undertaking daily monitoring visits to the Skellingthorpe area to check on odour emissions from the site, which have now reduced in frequency due to time constraints and additional duties.
“The team has advised the parish council and concerned residents that the company’s permit allows for dark smoke to be emitted from the chimneys on start-up, for up to 10 minutes — therefore reports of smoke should only be made where this period is exceeded.
“Officers are aware and responding to ongoing concerns and whilst investigations continue, it has requested the operator to review some of its procedures.”
Residents with concerns should contact 01529 308287 or email [email protected]. Out of hours issues anticipated to have prolonged duration can be flagged up by calling 01529 308308.
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Police blocked a junction of the M180 in Lincolnshire as protestors targeted motorways across the country in a demonstration over high fuel prices.
The protests are mainly targeting three-lane motorways with convoys of vehicles driving slowly in two lanes, and some police forces warned there could be ‘serious disruption’ throughout Monday, July 4.
In Lincolnshire, police blocked junction one between the M180 and M18 forcing protestors to remain on the former.
Humberside Police said: “Police officers were in attendance at this morning’s protest to allow people to go about their lawful business and to protect the right of individuals to take part and exercise their right to peaceful protest.”
This comes as fuel prices have risen to record highs in recent weeks. Figures from data firm Experian show the average price of a litre of petrol at UK forecourts had hit 191.5p on Sunday, July 3, according to the BBC.
Scunthorpe truck driver Tariq Akram was among those taking part in the protest, and one of 50 vehicles making the 60-mile journey through Scunthorpe and Doncaster at 20mph. His company added £4,000 to its fuel bill in the pasts four months due to price rises.
Tariq told the BBC: “The turnout was absolutely fantastic. There were 35 vehicles from our yard alone who took part. At one point, I thought some cars wanted to overtake so I tried to let them by, then I realised they were joining in.”
The East Midlands Ambulance Service, which covers Lincolnshire, is missing every response time target, with hospital handover times causing severe delays.
Ambulances are missing targets across all categories of calls, from life-threatening to non-urgent, sometimes leaving patients waiting hours.
East Midlands Ambulance Service says they are under “immense pressure” and aim to prioritise the most seriously ill.
Figures from the services’ 2021/22 annual report show how high demand and hospital handovers are causing severe delays .
It takes EMAS crews an average time of just under nine minutes to respond to Category 1 life-threatening calls, despite the target being seven minutes.
People who dialled 999 for a Category 2 emergency would wait an average of over three-quarters of an hour – more than double the target of 19 minutes.
For Category 3 and 4 (Urgent and Non-Urgent) EMAS aims to get to 90% of patients within two and five hours respectively. However, nine in ten were still waiting more than six hours later.
The crisis has been partly attributed to handover delays which are forcing ambulances to wait for hours outside hospitals.
Some 125,000 hours were lost across the service in 2021/22 – more than double the previous year.
EMAS said the handover delays are a sign of the widespread pressure on health and social care systems, and it’s working with the NHS to address staffing pressure and improving patient flow.
Neil Scott, Head of Operations for Lincolnshire at East Midlands Ambulance Service, said: “We are currently experiencing immense, sustained pressure on our service and our staff are continuing to work hard to prioritise the sickest and most severely injured patients.
“We continue to work closely with all our health and social care colleagues across Lincolnshire in response to the on-going high levels of demand being experienced across the wider NHS system.
“We urge the public to play their part by calling 999 if life is at threat, and to use alternative services such as 111 online, GP, pharmacies or urgent treatment centres for other concerns. This allows us to respond to patients who need our ambulances with highly-skilled clinicians and life-saving equipment on board.”
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