Residents' fears over plans for new Coventry sewage works

[dutchman]

Residents fear new sewage works in Coventry could contaminate drinking water and leave a bad smell in their neighbourhood.



Finham Residents’ Association has raised concerns over Severn Trent’s plan for a sludge recycling facility off St Martin’s Road, near the A46.

The new development, within a current sewage treatment site, will allow more waste to be processed in Finham instead of continuing to pipe sewage sludge to an aging facility at nearby Rock Farm, just north of Bubbenhall.

But residents fear raw sewage piped to the site from Canley and Kenilworth could leak in Green Lane, where a bore hole supplies most of Finham’s drinking water.

Plans have been submitted to build on Rock Farm as part of the Gateway proposals for Coventry Airport, but in a report to Warwickshire County Council’s regulatory committee residents say the site is contaminated with “sewage sludge which was not fit to be used as a fertiliser on farmers’ fields and has been held in tanks and lagoons over many years.”

They add: “Disturbing this contaminated material could result in it getting into our drinking water supply.”

Severn Trent’s response reads: “Severn Trent’s overriding concern is to ensure supplies to excellent quality drinking water to their customers which meet all EU and UK standards.

“With regard to borehole water supplies in Finham they are drawn from an aquifer which is protected by a substantial layer of impermeable mudstone which protects the aquifer from surface contaminants.”

The firm also says that by treating all sewage from the surrounding 450,000 homes on one site it will reduce the risk of burst pipes between Finham and Rock Farm.

But council officers are more concerned about smells from the plant. The site is bordered by Coventry Golf Club, Finham across the A46 to the north and Stoneleigh over the River Sowe to the south, with the nearest homes within 500 metres.

The council report states: “The major environmental issue for consideration is the odour impacts. The site has been the subject of odour complaints in the past and the odour assessment which supports this application indicates that odours will increase during the winter months but will decrease, to a limited degree, during the summer months.”

Severn Trent has appointed specialist odour consultants to minimise smells from the site. Environmental health officers at Warwick District Council are further investigating odour concerns and will report their findings at the meeting at Shire Hall on Tuesday at 10am.

[dutchman]

Finham sewage works improvements get go ahead

Planning permission for more than £5.5m worth of improvements to a sewage treatment works on the outskirts of Coventry has been granted.

Severn Trent's Finham sewage works will benefit from new processing equipment while its Rock Farm site close to the city's airport will close.

The company hope the sludge treatment facility will be ready in two years.

A company spokesman said the move would "reduce the risk of pollution to the local waterways".

Area manager Ed Preston said: "We've worked closely with Warwickshire County Council to help them to understand the plans for our work.

"Some early work to remove stone from the site is already underway and we'll be recycling the material for use in the road industry.

"By making use of brownfield land within the Finham site, we can cut down the risk of pollution that can be associated with pumping sludge."