Category Archives: Odour

Odour Impact Assessment – Devon

Odour Impact Assessment – Devon

Southwest Environmental Limited have recently issued an Odour Impact Assessment report for a large poultry unit in Devon.
The report accounts for the placement of a large number of broiler (for meat) chickens in two sheds. 
There were various receptors near site that are sensitive to odour the limit being set at 3.0 eOU/m3.  
We use an AERMOD model to derive a Annual 98th Percentile Mean. 
The model use source inputs, which we referenced from the SCAIL report and receptors  are chosen, based on  proximity and sensitivity.

Odour Impact Assessment – Salisbury – Wiltshire

Odour Impact Assessment – Salisbury – Wiltshire 

 Acting on instruction from a client in Southwest Environmental Limited  are to prepare an Odour Impact Assessment in connection with a  proposed development in close proximity to a to a Sewage Treatment Works.
Odours from sewage treatment works can be created in numerous ways they can come from stockpiled materials, aeration areas, or digester which are sometime incorporated.We have seen some smells from sewage treatment works come from malfunctioning equipment. Ironically the very equipment that was installed to take away smells / odour.

Typically an odour impact assessment is not carried out based on direct “smells” that we for example might sniff upon visiting a site. Instead they are conducted using reference values, perhaps from other sewage treatment works.  
We take these values and feed them in to a model which is very complicated, and factors in weather, and when and where smells (odour) will be generated. The model then spits out a number, if it is higher than 3 then that is bad, if it is lower than 3 then all is well. 

Odour Management Plan – London (WC1B – Camden)

Odour Management Plan – London (WC1B – Camden)

Southwest Environmental were recently commissioned to write an Odour Management Plan for a Chinese Restaurant in Southampton Row, London.

Usually these reports are produced for Planning applications, but in this case the Odour Management Plan has been requested by the Landlord of the building in question.

We visited the premises to make an inspection of current arrangements and found a pre-installed system, which broadly meets the current guidance for odour management measures. 

A typically system for a moderate odour application would contain grease baffles, course filtration and GAC filters. These were all present in this case.

The odour management report was prepared on a quick turnaround and will include all management measures required to staify landlords requirements. These are operational documents written in plane English.

Southwest Environmental Limited can prepare Odour Management Plans for all types of restaurants, we have experience with Turkish, BBQ, Charcoal Cooking, Fish and Chips Shops and all manner of other eateries.

If you would like to discuss your requirements then please call and we can discuss your needs, no obligation of course.

Odour Management Plan – Sussex

Odour Management Plan – Sussex

Southwest Environmental Limited have recently prepared an Odour Management Plan for a Nail Bar in Crawley, Sussex. The salon type establishment was sited within a busy shopping precinct. Our client had been requested by his local council to provide an odour management plan.

We were asked to prepare this document on a 3 working day turn around which we were just about able to do. We referenced industry codes of practices and focussed on the main causes of odour such as vapours and dust.

The odour management plan is a working document, and we aim to write such a report as simply as possible, with useful forms and survey checklists included for easy reference.

Odour Management Sussex

Odour Impact Assessment for Anaerobic Digestion (AD) Plant – Devon

Odour Impact Assessment for Anaerobic Digestion (AD) Plant

Acting on instruction from a client based in the greater London area, SWEL are to prepare an Odour Impact Assessment for a Anaerobic Digestion (AD) Plant in Devon.

The Anaerobic Digestion Plant  is to use agricultural feed stock in to produce gas, and ultimalty genrate electrcial energy vis the use of gas engines to feed in to the grid.

As solar and wind capacity increases  and base load capacity decreases, the UK must fill the gap. Anaerobic Digestion Plants offer the possibility of storing gas produced, and generating power when it is needed.

Odour Modelling

The odur impact assessment was conducted using odor concentrations derived from secondary sources, in the most part peer review scientific papers. These values were then used in a model to derive am odour concentration at near by receptors.

The model used was aeromod, which is the preferred modelling system used in the UK and USA. In fact the model was produced in the USA, by their equivalent of the Environment Agency the EPA.

The model works, by caluclating dispersion, and also “averaging” out plume concentrations based on wind directions. There are various parameters that can be changed, in cluding atmopshric stibility etc.

Owing to the comparatively low odor emissions from the proposed agricultural feed stock the odour impacts are very low.

SWEL can conduct Odour Impact Assessments on a quick turnaround and also offer odour modelling services, to air quality professionals.

Professional Planning Objection – Lichfield, Birmingham

Professional Planning Objection – Lichfield, Birmingham – Into

A residents group from the village of Little Hay, Lichfield approach SWEL with concerns raised regrading the construction of a very large chicken factory, which was proposed to be within 500 meters of various residential and commercial properties.

Professional Planning Objection – Lichfield, Birmingham – Odour

Supporting documents submitted with the application showed that odour in particular was at very low levels, and would not affect surrounding properties, however remodelling of odour emissions by SWEL showed a very different picture.  

Professional Planning Objection – Lichfield, Birmingham – Dust

The dust impact assessment submitted with the application did not consider PM2.5 particulates, There is a wealth of evidence on the effects of short-term exposure to PM10 on respiratory health, but for mortality, and especially as a consequence of long-term exposure, PM2.5 is a stronger risk factor than the coarse part of PM10 (particles in the 2.5–10 μm range). All cause daily mortality is estimated to increase by 0.2–0.6% per 10 μg/m3 of PM10. Long-term exposure to PM2.5is associated with an increase in the long-term risk of cardiopulmonary mortality by 6–13% per 10 μg/m3 of PM2.5 [1].

 So it was felt important that the inadeqaucy of the assessment was brought to the attention o the planning authority.

 Professional Planning Objection – Lichfield, Birmingham – Pathogens

And so though out the application we saw the continued understatement of environmental impacts on a local level, and in some cases there were impacts that had not been considered at all.Such as risk from air bourne pathogens (figure 1).


[1] Pope CA III et al. Lung cancer, cardiopulmonary mortality, and long-term exposure to fine particulate air pollution. Journal of the American Medical Association, 2002, 287(9): 1132–1141.

Odour Impact Assessment & Odour Management Plan – Tiverton

Odour Impact Assessment  & Odour Management Plan – Tiverton

SWEL were engaged to provide supporting planning documents for a broiler breeder chicken shed near Tiverton, Devon. An odour impact assessment uses an atmospheric model to gauge the diffusion of an odour plume, plotting modelled odour concentrations on a grid, this grid is then used to create contours.

An odour impact assessment was required to assess odour impacts from the proposed shed which was to house 36,000 chickens. This may seem a large number but by today’s standards this s a relatively small shed, sheds of 300,000 chickens are not uncommon.

Typically it is necessary to statistically manipulate results and give a US 95 or US 99 value for odour concentration derived balancing of model out puts and wind direction etc. but in this instance it was not necessary, worst case scenarios were modelled and found to be within accepted limits.

An odour management plan was also produced,  this is an operational document and is to be used by the site operator during the operational phase of the broiler breeder sheds. Odour control in large scale chicken sheds involves controlling  diet, watering and ventilation rates amongst other things.

Odour Impact Assessment

Odour Management Plan