'Nuisance diaries' sent to monitor hospital catering odours

Thursday 06 May 2021

St. Peter residents have been asked to fill in diaries documenting odours from the hospital catering unit, after around 50 residents put pressure on the Government to deal with the smells.

A group of 48 people living in the area recently signed a petition addressed to the Environment Minister last month, which requests the matter of “foul odours” coming from the unit at St. Peter's Technical Park be handled “ASAP".

Pictured: The Government have responded to the 48 signatories by requesting they fill in a 'nuisance diary' recording all odours to the best of their ability.

Express recently spoke to a number of residents who said they were affected by the odours, including a woman who said she was “dreading” having to be cooped up in her own home in the summer due to the smells, and a man who felt the smell was so “horrendous” he couldn’t even open his windows.

In response to Express’ request for comment on the campaign, a Government spokesperson explained that ‘nuisance diaries’ were a method they used to monitor nuisances - and Express now understands they have been sent out to signatories to fill in.

“Officers from Environmental Health have investigated previous complaints relating to cooking odours emanating from the Hospital Catering Unit. The odours have not been deemed to be a statutory nuisance,” the spokesperson said. 

“We take all complaints seriously and have reached out to the residents concerned with a view to obtaining detailed information of any incidents within a defined period of time. This information will be examined in conjunction with site visits."

Pictured: One resident Express spoke to likened the smells to "boiled cabbage."

They continued: “On a more general note, to determine whether odour may be considered a statutory nuisance, officers from Environmental Health, in accordance with standard professional practice, take into consideration a wide range of factors such as the nature, frequency, duration, time of day, weather conditions, impact, offensiveness and location of odours. 

“In making an assessment, complainants may be asked to complete and return a ‘nuisance diary’ which captures this information.  Completed odour diaries can provide evidence that can be used in making further decisions about odours. 

“In contrast to noise, there are no simple pieces of equipment available to evaluate odour in a fair and equitable way to allow the findings to be used as legal evidence.”

Residents have been asked to fill out the diaries for four weeks until the end of this month, wherein they will be returned to Environmental Health Officers.

However, Sally Wood, the resident who organised the campaign, has expressed her disappointment at this response.

“They are going down a Statutory Nuisance avenue when it’s already gone down there twice before, I can’t see what’s going to change,” she stated.

Pictured: St Peter resident Sally Wood said she was disappointed in the Government's response, feeling another Statutory Nuisance investigation from Environmental Health would only yield the same conclusion that there were no issues.

Explaining why she felt this process was flawed, she said that “we’re all filling out these diaries, but it’s never going to give a true reflection,” due to nobody being around to monitor 24 hours-a-day, variations in the wind blowing the odours meaning people will miss them, and a limited number of people having time to complete all of the dates.

Instead, she wants it to become a matter for Planning Compliance to investigate as a breach of a planning agreement from 1984, which sets out the rules and regulations for users of the park.

The agreement has a condition stating that industrial usage should not “cause detriment to the amenities of the area by virtue of noise, vibration, smell, fumes, smoke, soot, ash, dust or grit or effluent.”

She noted too, that in the initial Planning Statement for the catering unit, this condition was acknowledged and agreed to as well.

Pictured: Mrs Wood argued that a provision to stop disturbing smells should have been accounted for in the unit's planning conditions as well as the overall application.

However, because it had not been included in the planning conditions of the final decision, officials have told her that Compliance cannot act upon them or investigate them, despite the ‘Decision Notice’ document stating the work would be carried out in accordance with the plans.

"Surely whenever you have a planning application, anything specific that’s been promised should be in the conditions," she remarked.

On the continued impact of the smells and how she felt the Government was responding, Mrs Wood added: “I feel like as a resident here I’m nothing, and I can’t have a quality of life.” 

Last month, the Chief Minister confirmed that "a full catering facility will be included in the new hospital at Overdale and the service is not planned to be provided from St Peter’s Technical Park in future.”

However, no date or arrangements for the removal of the catering facilities at the Technical Park have been provided yet, with the 48 signatories wanting immediate action taken on the matter of smells.