Expert says if enough people complain, the council must act.
Stephen Toogood, an 'odour control specialist' says, "If neighbours are annoyed they should go to their local councillor because if enough elected councillors can go to the environmental health department and wag their elected fingers, the council should do something."
Air pollution can be reported to Kingston Council on 020 8547 5536 or Edward Davey MP's office on 020 7219 3512.
Read more in This is Local London...
Are you a Berrylands resident that's got used to the smell, or do you hold your breath as you go through on the train?
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Hi everyone,
We are considering to rent a house in Minniedale road in Surbiton (between Surbiton statoin and Berrylands station) and I was not aware of the smell problem in the area. I stumbled upon this on the net and have been reading all of the threads about the bad smells and need your help..
When viewing the property the agent did not mention anything about a potential bad smell (not that agents would be that honest). Could you please give me an honest opinion on this? I am keen gardener and plan to spend a lot of time outside. Is there anyone that lives in or around Minniedale road that could give me some advice?
Thank you in advance!
That area can have another smell problem - being just up the hill from the tip. There is certainly a ripe odour drifting up Villiers Road on sunny summer days.
Definately not a problem in Minniedale, or for the vast majority of the surrounding Surbiton / Berrylands area.
People occassionally smell it going past Berrylands station and wrongly think the whole area is affected.
Only streets immediately adjacent to Green Lane works are affected, and even then only very sporadically.
North of the railway line, it might rarely affect Hill Crescent, and extreme tip of Burney avenue, the student housing block.
On the berrylands side of the line, I'd put it at Rose Walk, small part of Surb Hill Park between Berrylands Pub and Park, small part of Raeburn Avenue.
New malden, in particular those modernish yellow brick houses. gets it worse because
1. its closer to the actual works - the smell actually comes from the big modern grey buildings, not the stagnant ponds you can see from the train.
2. the prevailing winds
I must say that I haven't really noticed the smell at all this summer when going past Berrylands. Perhaps Thames Water have finally done something about it, or it might just be temporary respite.
However, Minniedale is right in the epicentre of the affected area, so if it does come back you will smell it.
[censored] off berrylands is amazing and doesn't smell
So how is it nowadays? Is the problem sorted or does it still smell bed?
We are thinking of buying in Berrylands and know that close the train station there is a stench, but does the smell affect all residential areas in Berrylands? How far away would we have to live to avoid the smell altogether? Any advice appreciated.
You bet it stinks - Imagine that: Bright sunny morning, you have your cup of nice coffee and you are ready to go to work. You open the front door and with your first breath you inhale thick humid stink.. Now, this is the right moment to say "Good morning, have a nice day"...
I live in Surbiton and quite often when the wind brings this experience to us.
Cheers,
Pimmy
I live in Berrylands for 15 years and have noticed the smell from where I live a total of about four times. Most of the residential areas of Berrylands are far enough away so that the smell is not noticed and if something does go wrong you can just shut your windows for the day.
As a Berrylands resident I'd say 99% of the time it's not noticable, but the 1% can be bad. It'd definately something to consider, but not as bad as some make out. I think it used to be bad 10 years ago, but not such a problem any more. They did a lot of work at the plant a few years ago and added new equipment.
Perhaps if you live along Surbiton Hill it's more obvious when they get it wrong, but I think Thames Water are trying to keep the leaks under control. It's probably more of a problem for Lower Marsh Lane in Kingston.
Berrylands probably got it's bad reputation from rail travellers who got the full force at Berrylands Station because it's right next to the works.
Users may be interested in the results of our on-going Smellometer survey by going to our Smellometer page.
I don't like the questions on this site! No good at maths!
Anyway, I'd like to point out that we have not been told which bin to put the pigeons in? I have 8 bins outside, none of which are marked 'poultry or pigeon'.
This is a disgrace. However, I don't mind the smell of the site, just the pigeons in my living room.
Roger Dumpster, Berrylands
The smell is obivously related to the ongoing pigeon problems in the area!
Berrylands be having bad reputation among daily travellers, but pongs be exception these days.
It be a foul stench when things go wrong so we should forward no excuses to the powers of Thames Aqua when they let one slip though.
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