Concerns have been raised over clouds of wood dust descending “like snow” on a village.
A number of residents from Cardenden contacted The Courier to complain of woodchip particles blowing on to their houses and into their gardens from a nearby fuel storage and chipping facility owned and managed by the Purvis Group.
The depot supplies materials to RWE Innogy UK’s Biomass Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plant at Tullis Russell in Markinch.
Local man Dave Roy said residents across the village had complained to Fife Council about the issue but nothing has been done, leading to people feeling “fed up with being fobbed off”.
“We are constantly having to wash our cars and windows and can’t sit outside in our gardens when the wind blows the dust over.
“In addition to the nuisance element of this problem, we have serious health concerns too. We are currently looking at case studies across the UK and abroad, as there is gathering evidence that wood chipping dust can affect people’s health.”
Another resident, Heather Kane, said: “The dust is worse on a windy day. It actually looked like it was snowing the other day. This can’t be good for people with asthma.”
David Taylor, secretary of the local community council, said: “The wood is being stockpiled, causing it to spill over into the village and it really is getting out of hand.
“They need to stop bringing material on to the site until the backlog is cleared.”
Concerns have also been raised by residents that work has been going on at the depot outside specified hours.
Bob Garmory, business development manager at Purvis Group, said he is sympathetic to residents’ concerns but insisted the site was operating within its remit.
“We are allowed to conduct maintenance of the facility outwith working hours as long as we aren’t processing,” he said.
Mr Garmory admitted there was evidence of wood fibre not being contained but said RWE is putting measures in place to suppress the dust.
Robin Presswood, head of enterprise, planning and protective services at Fife Council, said: “We’re taking this issue very seriously and have visited different parts of the area 19 times to investigate issues raised by residents. This includes visits to the site, visits to neighbours and other sampling visits.
“We are currently reviewing the terms of the planning consent to ensure the company is operating within them and, so far, there has been no proven statutory nuisance at the site.”
An RWE Innogy UK spokesperson said: “RWE holds the waste management licence for the site, with Purvis holding the contract for managing the day-to-day operation of the site. The volume of the wood currently being handled is well within the limits set down under the licence agreement.
“We are aware of the concerns among residents and have met local representatives to discuss the situation. We also work closely with Sepa and Fife Council to ensure the site is working within the conditions of our licence.
“We take our responsibility to the community seriously and will be making a significant investment into dust-suppression equipment to alleviate the concerns of residents. This will be in place within six to eight weeks. In the meantime, we are working with Purvis to help them to manage any dust from our site.”