LITTLE can be done to stop smelly lorries dropping animal carcasses on the roads, council chiefs have said.
A petition signed by 2,204 people has called on Stoke-on-Trent City Council to take action against wagons spilling their loads on the A520 as they take animal remains to the John Pointon and Sons plant in Felthouse Lane, Cheddleton.
But Martyn Brindley, head of regulatory services, told the Improving Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee yesterday, that the authority could do very little without a change in the law.
Michael Coleman, BNP councillor for Weston and Meir North, lives just 150 yards from the A520 in Meir.
He said: "The smell is outrageous. We can't live with it any more.
"Animal parts are being dropped on the streets. They are being transported in skip wagons with tarpaulin thrown over the top.
"It doesn't prevent the smell and, however careful the operator is, things fall out.
"The smell is enough to knock you out. We have had people run out of the butchers in Meir High Street and throw up on the pavement – that is a fact.
"Another big issue is noise. It is like someone banging a dustbin with a big stick."
The committee was shown photographs of animal carcasses on the side of the A520.
Committee chairman Dave Conway said: "We have seen a picture of a whole pig on the side of the road.
" If one of them falls off and hits a child going to school in Meir, they are dead."
Mr Brindley said the law did not allow councils to take any action against smells caused by vehicles.
And he said to be able to prosecute a vehicle for leaking or dropping its load, the authority would need evidence including the identity of the wagon, an eyewitness account of the leak and the exact time and location.
Even then the city council would only be able to issue a �50 fine.
Mr Brindley said he had received 14 complaints about materials being dropped on the A520 in the last 10 years.
Mr Conway said: "Someone who drops a piece of paper or a cigarette can be fined �80 but if you drop a whole pig it is �50. It's a joke."
Mr Coleman said: "Operators are operating within the law but the law is failing us. This is an issue for the law makers. If the law isn't changed we will never be able to address the issue."
The committee voted to pass the matter on to the cabinet asking them to take action, including involving the area's MPs and MEPs.
Barney Williams, technical director at Pointons, said: "It is important to stress that while John Pointon and Sons utilise the A520 on a daily basis we are by no means the only animal rendering or transport company that operates animal by-product vehicles along the route and therefore we unfortunately have no control over the standard of operations."
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