FUMING homeowners living next to ‘Britain’s biggest incinerator’ say their property values have plummeted, and that they are ‘overrun’ with rats and seagulls.
Residents living in the shadow of the Runcorn Energy Recovery Facility also feel that the site has ‘damaged’ their health and ‘destroyed’ their community.
The £462million facility opened in 2015 amid boasts by operator Viridor that it could power more than 150,000 homes via a high-tech waste disposal system.
But the firm later paid £1million to a group of residents living near the plant, whose solicitors had argued they were experiencing worrying health side-effects from it.
Around 180 complainants each received roughly £4,500 on the condition that they sign non-disclosure agreements, banning them from speaking out about the issue.
But Mandy Royle, 53, was one of five people who refused the ‘insulting’ cash payment and has claimed the incinerator is ‘poisoning’ her community.
She said: “It’s a horror scene. I can’t get away from it.
"As soon as I open my curtains in the morning, it’s straight there, in my face. I get light pollution from it. My bedroom lights up.
“Sometimes there's like a burning smell. It’s a bit like being in a skip - like a wheely bin smell when it’s been out in the sun, rotten cabbage-type smell.
“It’s a big monster that’s probably slowly poisoning us all. They say it's only vapour that comes out of the towers and turbines, but how do we know that?”
Viridor says the facility treats close to a million tonnes of 'non-recyclable waste' each year, which comes via road and rail to the facility.
But Mandy said the constant arrival of rubbish at the plant had created a huge vermin problem and increased noise pollution.
She said: "We never got seagulls before, and now we get swarms of them.
“All the wagons come down the road, and they’re every two or three minutes, every day, all day, every night.
“So we’ve got the noise and the fumes off that, bringing the waste in.”
Mandy has lived in the community for over 25 years and also runs a nearby dog grooming parlour.
But she was told by an agent that her home had ‘lost £80,000 and would now have to be auctioned off if she wanted to sell up.
She said: “I tried to put it up for sale. We got told it should be worth about £180,000.
“But the last guy who came said because of the state of the road, the best thing for you to do with this would be to auction it off.
"Nobody is going to buy this house anyway."
Mandy said the cash offered as part of the settlement with Viridor could not match the losses she had incurred since the incinerator had started up.
She added: “I’ve got a business, so £4,500 isn’t going to help me move. So I’m just stuck in this little corner right in front of it.”
Dad of four George Parker, who established a garage close to the plant around 20 years ago, echoed Mandy’s claims about the knock-on effects of the incinerator.
He said: “Since 2015, we’ve been inundated with rats, flies, smoke from the cooling towers and everything else, smells, noise pollution - you name it, we’ve got it.
“The people’s lives in the area are just blighted by it.
“Viridor, in its wisdom, has come out and basically silenced residents by giving them a payout and making them sign a six-page non-disclosure agreement.”
George said the area was now teaming with vermin, and shops had even run dry of the poison used to kill them.
He went on: “The place is overrun with rats now – absolutely overrun with them.
“We know a guy who actually works as a rat catcher for one of the big firms. He says he is constantly there now, putting even more rat traps out.
“He went to get some rat poison from the local Screwfix, which is only half a mile away, and it had run out. The demand is so high in the area.”
George also felt the area had suffered since the plant's arrival and had become more impoverished.
He added: “They only build these places in downtrodden areas. The area is not the greatest – 30 or 40 years ago, it was a really vibrant area.
“Everything only has a lifespan of so long, but this incinerator was put in on the pretence it was creating green energy.
“Now it’s just derelict, it’s completely overrun and it looks an absolute disgrace.”
An Environment Agency spokesman said: “We continue to carry out regular site inspections and audits to ensure the operator is meeting the conditions of its environmental permit.
“Following Environment Agency enforcement action, there has significant investment by the operator to reduce noise levels at the site.”
Viridor was contacted for comment.
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