A PUNGENT smell from the Ansa waste management site in Middlewich has reignited fears over the contentious environmental hub.

Infuriated residents complained about another acrid odour filtering through the town when temperatures soared last Wednesday.

The stench was so bad they were unable to keep their windows and doors open.

Residents and councillors suspect the smell could be coming from Viridor waste lorries driving in and out to collect waste from the Cledford Lane site.

Cllr Dave Latham, who is on the Ansa liaison group for the town council, said: "This foul smell is absolutely awful. Every time we have hot weather the public of Middlewich can't sit outside and enjoy their own properties.

Northwich Guardian:

Cllr Dave Latham enlisted the help of an air quality specialist to scrutinise Cheshire East Council's environmental reports in his fight to stop the waste site coming to Middlewich

"We don't believe it is the site emitting the smells, we think it is the large bulk lorries taking waste away. The stink of the Viridor lorries going through town lingers long after the vehicles go past. It makes you feel physically sick."

Angela Roberts said: "Walking into town a Viridor lorry was travelling along Booth Lane towards the centre of town from Ansa and the smell from it nearly made me vomit. They are always smelly but this one was in a league of its own."

Nick Cheetham said: "Horrendous Ansa smells again. All windows closed and a headache. Who can help, three years of this is not good enough."

Lynne Hardy said: "It should never have been allowed so close to a residential area."

Cllr Latham formed the campaign group Action Against Ansa and spent years mounting protests, fighting plans to move the waste transfer site to Middlewich.

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Northwich Guardian:

Ansa protests in 2015

"We raised thousands of pounds from public donations and had our own barristers and solicitors," said Cllr Latham. "We tried very hard to stop it, it wasn't through a lack of fight.

"We were promised that people wouldn't suffer smells, but it is having a horrendous impact. They need to be putting more pressure on Viridor to make their vehicles cleaner so we have less smells in the summer months.

"I know you can't collect waste without there being a smell but this stinks. It is not fair to the people of Middlewich."

A spokesman for Cheshire East Council, which owns the waste management company, said: “We were notified by a resident that they were experiencing intermittent odour issues on September 16 relating to the Ansa depot in Middlewich.

“We are sorry to hear this and remain fully committed to being a good neighbour – liaising regularly with community representatives to discuss such occasional issues and working swiftly to address them.

“We would like to confirm that there are no issues with our air filtration system and all systems are working correctly.

“We would like to reassure residents that we take such inquiries very seriously and have recently undertaken an extensive piece of work to replace our filters.

“We are committed to regularly monitoring them to ensure they are working correctly. This recent work is available to view on Ansa’s website ansa.co.uk, as well as a behind the scenes video of the workings of the waste transfer station.”