Residents band together to protest "foul" hospital kitchen odours

Wednesday 21 April 2021

Nearly 50 people living near the hospital's catering unit are demanding urgent action from the Environment Minister to tackle the "foul odours" that are infiltrating their furniture and clothing, and making them feel sick.

The group, whose homes neighbour St. Peter's Technical Park, has been living with the problem for around a year. While some filters were fitted to mitigate the smells after complaints, residents say they haven’t been effective.

48 of them have now signed an official notice of complaint to the Environment Minister, Deputy John Young.

Seen by Express, the petition reads: “We the undersigned would like to bring to your attention that we have experienced foul food odours emanating from the the Hospital Catering unit situated in St. Peter’s Technical Park.

It is wind-dependent and can be smelt in outside areas and inside properties.

"We require this matter to be addressed ASAP.” 

Pictured: 48 nearby residents have signed the complaint to the Environment Minister.

Campaign organiser Sally Wood, who has lived in the area for over 27 years, told Express the smells had taken a great toll on her daily life since the unit started operating last year. This was on top of previous disturbances to her home through machine work and noise during construction phases across the past three years, she said.

“You can’t use your own property, because you can’t have windows and doors open as the smell comes into your house and your upholstery; you can’t use your garden or put up your washing line because the smells get into the washing,” Mrs Wood said.

“It’s wind-dependent and, if you’ve got it that day, you’ve got strong wafts of smell - it makes you gag, and you can’t get away from it unless you physically leave your property and go somewhere else.

She added: “I should have as much right as anyone else to enjoy my property.”

Pictured: Residents likened the smell from the hospital catering facility to "boiled cabbage", saying that it often makes them want to "gag."

One of the key arguments of the residents, comes from Condition 1 of an agreement from 1984, which still applies, to protect those living in the area when the Technical Park was built.

It regards the use of the park’s facilities, 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.”

Similarly, the 2011 Island Plan's GD1 Policy states that development should not "adversely affect the health, safety and environment of users of buildings and land by virtue of emissions to air, land, buildings and water including light, noise, vibration, dust, odour, fumes, electro-magnetic fields, effluent or other emissions."

In the Officers' Assessment that was approved back in 2017 to put the catering unit in St. Peter, both of these points were assessed and agreed with as being necessary.

However, Mrs Wood said she felt neither policy was being followed, noting: “Planning is supposed to be there to protect us, and in this case they’re not.”

Pictured: Residents have suggested the carbon filters installed by Government have been ineffective.

Last year, carbon filters were fitted by Government to mitigate the smells. In November, Deputy Young said Environmental Health Officers had found no breaches of the 1984 agreement, and therefore concluded that the smells were not an official nuisance.

However, Mrs Wood has disputed this, asking why so many signatories can still smell the odours now. 

“If the filters aren’t doing the job they’re supposed to be doing, then they need to be looking at better filters or getting smells so high into the air that they don’t come into the atmosphere,” she remarked.

Talking directly to some other residents in the area also reflected the sentiments in this latest statement.

Speaking earlier this year to Express, Susan Thomas, who has lived in her home in the area since it was built in the early 70s, said life was “perfect” before the hospital catering unit arrived.

She claimed that, prior to its arrival, residents were assured there would be no foul odours and that any smells would be dealt with.

Pictured: One resident said they were "dreading" summer and having to keep the windows closed to avoid the smells from St. Peter's Technical Park.

Giving an example of a typical experience on the week she spoke to Express, she said of the "awful" smells: “I opened the backdoor to put the dog out… and it kind of hits you in the face.”

She described the "horrible smell" as akin to "boiled cabbage", and said she was "dreading" summer, when she expected to be cooped up indoors with the windows closed to keep the smell away.

Another neighbour who lives in area, 81-year-old Rod Kay, detailed how he felt he couldn’t even open his windows, such was the strength of the "horrendous" smell if the wind was blowing in the direction of his home.

"As soon as you walk outside the house and smell this stuff, it almost knocks you down," he said.

Illustrating the impact on residents' day-to-day lives, he explained how, after putting on a shirt that had been washed and left out to dry, he was surprised to find that “it smelt like I had BO”, before he realised that it was the kitchen smell.

While the group is demanding a solution to their odour ordeal in the short-term, the Chief Minister confirmed earlier this month 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.

Express has contacted the Government for comment and is awaiting a response.