Company fined after Attleborough plagued by abattoir smell

Banham Poultry supplies chicken products and is based in Attleborough, Norfolk

A company has been fined £300,000 after neighbours complained about the smell of decaying poultry at an abattoir.

Residents living near Banham Poultry Ltd in Attleborough, Norfolk reported the smell nearly 350 times between 2019 and 2021.

Some described the stench as "rotting bodies and flesh", while another said it made them physically sick.

The company admitted environmental breaches and was fined at Chelmsford Magistrates' Court on 15 September.

Owner Banham Poultry (2018) Ltd was fined £300,000 for breaching an Environmental Permitting Regulation and was also ordered to pay £67,621 in costs and a victim surcharge.

The court heard foul-smelling air escaped through damaged and open doors after blood collected on the abattoir floor due to blocked drains.

Other parts of the building were badly corroded and beyond repair, said the Environment Agency, which brought the prosecution.

District Judge Andrew King said the smell had a "significant effect on quality of life" in the town.

Blocked drains at the Attleborough site contributed to a foul smell from the abattoir

'Trapped'

Diane Smith, 62, has lived near the abattoir since 2014 and said the smell had "made life miserable".

"It's been awful, a constant blight in our lives," she said.

The constant putrid smell also made living through the pandemic worse as she and her husband John felt "trapped" in their own home.

"During Covid the only outside space we had was the garden and we couldn't use it a lot of the time because of the terrible stench," Mrs Smith said.

The company, now under new management, had a permit from the Environment Agency to slaughter up to 67 million birds a year.

Issues were also found with the state of buildings on site

A spokesman for the company said: "Banham Poultry notes the regrettable historic environmental breaches under the previous owner in relation to odour originating from its site in Attleborough."

The new owners who took over in October 2021 said they were "keen to play a positive role in the local community".

Plans were already in place to continue making improvements at the site, he said.

'Problems mounted up'

The Environment Agency warned the company to act after complaints in early 2019 but said this was not properly acted upon and complaints continued.

During its investigation it found carcasses stored outside during the summer of 2020, making the smell worse, the agency said.

Sophie Cousins, who led the investigation for the Environment Agency, said neighbouring residents and business had been "badly affected over a long period of time".

Problems "mounted up" despite the agency giving the company "many chances to comply with the law", she said.

The company was fined £300,000 for environmental breaches

Staff also lacked the relevant training in dealing with environmental issues, which the agency said were "chronic" at the site.

The company pleaded guilty to failing to keep activities free from odour levels likely to cause pollution outside the abattoir between January 2019 and September 2021.

It also admitted not complying with an enforcement notice.