Neighbours of the Rietvallei Nursery recently complained to the Record because they felt that they have exhausted all other avenues.
Their issue is with the negative impact of a compost processing operation that borders on their properties.
The Record asked the Department of Environmental Health to investigate and they promptly obliged – quite a rarity these days.
Whether the following findings by Environmental Health Operational Manager Henry Bentley will appease the neighbours, remains to be seen.
“I had a meeting with both the owners of the nursery,” says Bentley.
“The current situation is that there is still a large heap of grass and soil close to the neighbouring properties. They acknowledged that they did collect garden waste for a while when they had a contract with City Parks, but stopped this practice. The rest of the plot is without any grass cover, which causes a lot of dust when the wind blows.
It seems that the compost heap used to be closer to the fence, which caused the odour and dust problem for the neighbours,” he further explains.
According to Bentley it was agreed that
• the remainder of the grass/garden waste is to be removed between 23 and 30 August
• the sifting of soil is to be suspended or moved to a controlled environment
• the compost heap is to be moved even further away from neighbouring residents. The owner will investigate the possibility of building holding bays for the compost and topsoil to reduce dust
• the areas where the trucks frequent, are to be watered down daily
• grass will be planted on the uncovered areas to reduce dust. This will commence from the end of August
• no work will be done at night
Bentley also indicated that Environmental Health will monitor the conditions at the nursery to ensure that all measures are implemented.
