Abattoir relocation is delayed

PEOPLE living near an abattoir in North Camp are blaming Rushmoor Borough Council for holding up plans to relocate it.

Residents in Peabody Road and Sherborne Road have repeatedly complained about the smell and noise from lorry deliveries at the P C Turner abattoir.

Many of them were disappointed when plans to move the abattoir to Gold Farm in Government Road, Aldershot, were shelved last year because the owner, Mark Newman, did not produce an environmental assessment report.

Denise Freeland of Peabody Road has claimed that hopes of a move are being dashed the borough council.

She said Mr Newman had told residents that he wants to relocate but had not received the backing of the council.

Mr Newman has spent money investigating new sites and is fed up with the problems at North Camp.

Mrs Freeland said: “They (the council) are simply not helping him find an alternative site, despite his insistence to them that he wants to relocate as soon as possible once they find an alternative site.”

A move away from the 19th-century building to a purpose-built abattoir would comply with food and safety, animal welfare and hygiene standards.

Mrs Freeland also claims the council has lost interest and stopped looking for another site.

She added: “It seems to us residents that far from the council helping us, they are hindering the whole process of getting this place relocated.

“The owner wants to move, the residents want him to move but the council are the actual problem now.”

But John Edwards, the council’s director of environmental services, said officials were working with Mr Newman to find an alternative site.

He added that nowhere suitable had been found since the proposed move to Gold Farm was shelved.

Last week the council served a notice on Mr Newman under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 requiring him to introduce measures to reduce the smell at the abattoir within 28 days.

Mr Edwards said: “We would do all we could to facilitate a move as we did before. Clearly everyone — the council, Mr Newman and residents — is agreed that if you started from scratch you would not put an abattoir in Peabody Road.

“If an alternative site could be found it would be to everybody’s benefit.”

Vivian Watson of Sherborne Road said the borough council’s latest bid to reduce the smell will not be successful.

He believes the smell coming from a trailer storing animal waste will continue as usual during the spring and summer.

Mr Watson said: “What is the solution? Other than taking the trailer up to Gold Farm as he did last summer, there is no other solution.”

Mr Watson blames the council for ‘ducking out’ of the problem. He added: “I don’t believe the council has got the power to move him. Only when Mr Newman is ready to move will he move.”

Mr Newman declined to comment on Mrs Freeland’s claim that he wanted to relocate the abattoir.

In April 2004 Mr Newman said he could not understand the public backlash against plans for a modern slaughterhouse at Gold Farm.

He said that moving to the less built-up site in Government Road would be the ideal solution for him and the residents.

He believed the impact on residents would be negligible and appealed for opponents to reconsider their stance.

Mr Newman also criticised the council for supporting his plans and then walking away in face of opposition.

He added: “The relocation to Gold Farm was backed by Rushmoor council. That was the advice they gave us.

“The response from the council since the publicity has been to draw into their shell. They have changed their tack.”

Source : www.farnborough.co.uk

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