Ash recycling plant approved at Fife landfill site infamous for the 'Melville Pong'

A plan to add an ash recycling plant to the controversial Lower Melville Wood landfill site has been approved - despite an acknowledgement that it will contribute to the smells emitting from the area.

Council waste management body Fife Resource Solutions (FRS) applied to build the plant to process "bottom ash" - the last dredges of waste generated during incineration - at the site near Ladybank.

While Fife Council recommended the plans for approval, it met with resistance from 79 groups and individuals including Monimail, Ladybank and Giffordtown Community Councils and Liberal Democrat MSP, Willie Rennie

Trust in FRS is low among local communities because of an ongoing failure to rectify the issue of odours emanating from the landfill site, known as the "Melville pong".

Complaints have existed since the site opened in the 1980s, but both the smells and have escalated in recent years.

In a letter to planning, Mr Rennie said the local authority's inability to deal with the smell should prevent any further development from taking place.

Debating the application the North East Planning Committee today (Wednesday) case officer Edward Bean said the bottom ash plant will result in a "negligible increase" in odours associated with processing bottom ash - a note that attracted criticism from Tay Bridgehead Lib Dem councillor Tim Brett.

"That's not the same as saying there would be no odours," the councillor said.

Mr Bean responded: "Environmental health have reviewed all information and are happy with that negligible increase being acceptable in terms of amenity impact."

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East Neuk and Landward Lib Dem councillor Bill Porteous added that Fife Council had been "a bad neighbour" in dealing with the issues at Lower Melville, while independent stablemate Linda Holt said she was "sick to her boots" that the application was essentially perceived as a done deal by FRS.

To the anger of locals, the firm has already started preparatory groundworks on the area of land where the bottom ash would be delivered and processed.

Cllr Holt added: "Fife Council has ignored its own planning rules to start the development because it's so confident it can get permission."

The plans were recommended for approval despite dozens of objections, noting that conditions would be imposed to control dust, smell and noise levels, as well as the maximum amount of bottom ash processed per year.

However, Cllrs Porteous and Holt proposed a motion to continue it to a future meeting to seek more information on the impact the plant would have on the local area.

They were defeated by an amendment tabled by SNP St Andrews councillor, Ann Verner.

She proposed approval with conditions limiting the plant's operations to Monday to Saturday, 7am to 7pm, and establishing a community liaison structure to keep locals informed of the plant's impacts on the local area.

It won by six votes to four.

FRS says it will process recyclates from Dundee's Baldovie energy-from-waste at a rate of 6-7 lorries per day Monday to Saturday, but could accept waste from other sources in future.

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