Cheesed off residents complain about smell of mozzarella factory

Residents have made hundreds of complaints to an environmental body about a cheese factory in Carmarthenshire - mostly about noise and odour.

The plant in the village of Aber-arad produces mozzarella and pizza cheese for both domestic and international markets.

Dairy Partners Ltd, a family owned business that bought the Carmarthenshire site in 2012, said it is the largest employer in the local area.

A report by Air Quality Consultants from December 2021 said the production facility had been "receiving ongoing odour complaints from local residents".

Since then, Natural Resources Wales (NRW) said it had received 148 complaints in 2022 and 232 in 2023 in relation to the site.

The body which is responsible for managing Wales's natural resources said most of the complaints were regarding noise or odour, but a few had been in relation to pollution of a watercourse.

Erin Smyth-Evans, industry regulation team leader for NRW, said it issued permits for businesses to carry out some activities that have "the potential to pollute or harm the environment".

"Where we have become aware of changes being made at Dairy Partners Ltd without our knowledge, or have received reports of suspected pollution in nearby watercourses, we have investigated and where necessary taken enforcement steps to ensure the business is operating in compliance with their permit," she added.

"We take complaints of this nature very seriously and we continue to monitor this business."

In a statement, a spokesperson for Dairy Partners Ltd said its original wastewater treatment plan began to fail at the end of 2019.

Consequently, a new plant was completed at a cost of £2m which it says is "state of the art, quieter, cleaner, more efficient, and better for the environment".

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The spokesperson added that "over 90% of the noise and odour complaints have originated from one individual, who has refused to engage with the business, despite repeated attempts to do so".

They also said any recommendations from independent noise and odour surveys had been acted upon "immediately".