ANGRY residents have slammed a decision to allow a new 24-hour waste plant to be built.

Essex County Council has agreed to TLM Waste Management’s application to build the waste transfer station at the junction of Hovefields Avenue and Hovefields Court, Basildon.

The station will handle up to 70,000 tonnes of rubbish every year, with up to 200 lorry movements each day.

It will also deal with up to 5,000 tonnes of asbestos.

It will store, separate and recycle a range of materials including wood, plastic, metal, paper, soil and food.

The decision has been slammed by Danny Copeland, 73, who has lived in Hovefields Avenue for more than 50 years.

He said: “There is one there at the moment and it stinks 24-hours a day.

“It never stops.

“I don’t know how they are allowed to have it there so close to a residential area.

“It is only going to get worse if another one is built.

“There aren’t many of us living here - only about eight or nine residents and the rest are travellers.

“They just don’t care - we are treated like second-rate citizens.”

His neighbour, Brian Hoppin, who has lived there for 30 years, added he too was fed up with the smell from the existing plant and was concerned about a second one being built.

“It stinks,” he said.

“Absolutely stinks, especially at night.

“If you go out there at 11.30 at night and stand on my driveway you can smell it.

“It is disgusting and horrendous.

“We can’t open our windows at night because of the awful smell.”

He added that they had complained about the smell of the existing plant, but nothing had been done.

There had been calls for neighbouring properties to receive compensation because of the plant.

TLM Waste Management already runs a similar site on the Cranes Farm industrial estate.

Fifteen full-time and five part-time jobs will be created, they will range from office staff to site operators and engineers.