Waste Site Saga

Residents of Chapel Close, Wick, say they have had enough of the smells and eyesores at the Onyx depot backing onto their gardens, after 18 months of complaints to the company, to Arun District Council and the Environment Agency.

They told the Gazette that smells coming from rubbish stored at the site during the summer months was so bad that people had to keep their windows closed and were often unable to sit out in their gardens.

Mary Renehan, whose flat overlooks the depot, said: "It is not a tip there should be no rubbish in that yard. But in the last few days there have been five bins overflowing with rubbish, a battered cooker, an old washing machine and old tyres.

"Before Christmas there were 15 fridges, and we ve also seen old settees, beds, a garage door, metal sheeting, all sorts of stuff.

"A few months ago one lorry tipped its load out onto the ground and it was left lying there for five days before they cleared it up."

Neighbours said they also had to put up with fumes from refuse trucks kept at the depot, which were parked up against garden fences, instead of well away from homes in other parts of the site.

Kevin Basford, Arun s head of environmental amenities, said the council s refuse contractors, Onyx, accepted there had been a deterioration in standards at the depot over the past two to three weeks.

Yesterday (Wednesday) morning, after being contacted by the Gazette, Mr Basford made an unannounced visit to the depot. "It was very clean, tidy and well organised."

For the full story, see the Gazette, January 24.