Published: Thursday, 3rd July, 2008 8:05am

Urgent action on nasty niffs

EMISSIONS from LaFarge Cement works are causing a stink in Dunbar - and bosses have conceded that urgent action is needed.

It was community councillor Kilvert Croft who raised the issue, telliing colleagues at their meeting last week that he was 'very concerned' about fumes emanating from the cement works.

He could detect the odour, he said, at John Muir Country Park - more than five miles away from the industrial site.

'This grounding of the plumes is getting worse,' he said. 'When I was at John Muir Country Park the other week I could smell the odour there.'

Speaking after the meeting, Mr Croft said the odour was 'not particularly obnoxious' but was not a natural smell.

'It"s an industrial smell that catches in your throat.'

He added that the odour seemed to be concentrated in the Barns Ness area and was more pungent last year than in recent months.

In a statement, LaFarge Dunbar said they were taking complaints seriously and attribute the recent odour problem to a £20 million investment in a gas scrubber last November - which effectively reduced dust and sulphur dioxide emissions by half.

Dunbar Works manager, David Chrystall, said: 'Since the installation of the scrubber there have been some odour issues around the site in certain weather conditions. While we remain well within the stringent minimum air quality standards set by the EU and enforced by SEPA (Scottish Environment Protection Agency), odour can be picked up by humans at concentrations as low as a one hundredth of these standards.

'The cause of the odour, which does not occur daily, is complex so we are keeping detailed records to understand that impact of weather conditions on our chimney plume'.

LaFarge has commissioned a consultant to perform an "odour modelling analysis" - a scaled down model that helps analysts determine which environmental conditions are likely to perpetuate and carry the smell.

It is understood an "odour panel" - which can determine the source of odours as well as gases present - will form part of this process. The panel consists of 'ordinary people' who attempt to detect odours at their lowest concentration within laboratory conditions.

LaFarge must report their initial findings of this analysis to SEPA by August.

A spokeswoman for SEPA said: 'It is likely to be many months before the problem is completely resolved. Options to prevent plume grounding are limited and it is likely that any corrective works undertaken will require significant capital investment and take several months to design and install.

'Monitoring to date indicates there have been no breaches of air quality standards designed to protect human health and the major impact seems to be one of odour.

'SEPA anticipates corrective works may be carried out in 2009. Lafarge Cement seems committed to a solution and agrees urgent action is needed.'