RESIDENTS say they are infuriated about smells and disturbance from the new £400 million Runcorn energy from waste incinerator.

They claim the Viridor plant is emitting unpleasant odours and noise from trains.

Halton MP Derek Twigg met with the plant manager to discuss the problems.

Mr Twigg said: “I expressed in strong terms mine and my constituents’ frustration and anger about the smells and noise disturbance.

“The problem regarding the smells relates to issues with the fans and vents and a design failure.

“The company says they will be issuing an odour action plan which will be made available to businesses and residents. Viridor believes this will help mitigate the problem.

“On the train movement, they said they will do all they can to minimise noise.”

He said the plant should have been commissioned in June but the contract is running behind.The complete handover is now scheduled for November.

A spokesperson from Runcorn Energy from Waste said: “As commissioning is taking place, a number of unusual occurrences have been taking place to test the facility before it enters full operation.

“An odour management plan has been put in place and actions to prevent the potential for odour escaping the facility are ongoing. Complaints have subsided significantly since the odour management plan has been adopted. The last odour complaint was on July 22 and further improvements will be made in the coming weeks. Once the facility becomes fully operational the design of the plant is such to prevent odour.

“We have also received a number of noise complaints and have ongoing investigations to identify the cause of noise and minimise the potential for noise from the energy from waste facility in the local area.”