VILLAGERS and councillors have kicked up a stink over a composting site which they claim uses rotting chicken pieces and waste fluid.

Quantum Waste Management Ltd, of Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire, has applied to Selby District Council for planning permission to use 12 acres of land at Lennerton Lane, Sherburn-in-Elmet, for composting.

Council officers say that composting is already going on at the site, near Sherburn Aero Club, without the benefit of planning permission.

In a report to a meeting of the council's planning committee on Wednesday, officers said that information originally supplied suggested that the activity related solely to the shredding of green waste from municipal household waste tips.

But following complaints from residents and employers, it became apparent that other matter was being used.

This included, the report says, waste fluid from the woollen and sweet industries and, more recently, rotting chicken pieces from the poultry industry.

Sherburn Parish Council has lodged a strong objection to the proposals.

Parish council chairman Pam Odell said: "It's a revolting smell that makes you feel sick. When I went down there I found chickens' heads and feet - it was horrible."

Geoff Dickinson, director of Quantum Waste Management Ltd, confirmed that waste fluids from the sweet and woollen industries were used on site, but insisted that these products did not have an unpleasant odour.

He added that the site had accepted three loads of feathers from a chicken processing plant, but they had stopped accepting material from the plant when the loads were found to contain chicken heads and feet.

He said: "It was a one-off and we took immediate action. We were only contracted to take feathers.

"We don't want to make any bad smells. We want to co-exist with our neighbours in harmony. We are converting waste into a good quality product, and we are proud of what we do."

Updated: 14:13 Monday, September 02, 2002