Category: Seafield Noise and Odour

You are viewing all articles on our website relating to odours & noise from Seafield.

You may also be interested in viewing our Seafield noise & odour page, which can be accessed by clicking here.

Brace yourselves….

Sounds like there may be some Seafield related issues this week – two messages in today from Scottish Water –

(1) Dear stakeholder,

Veolia, the site operator at the Seafield Waste Water Treatment Works, intends to undertake a routine cleaning of the storm tanks commencing tomorrow, Tuesday 22nd July. 

Conditions are forecast as favourable for the duration of the task.

Both SEPA and the City of Edinburgh Council have been informed.

We will issue a further update once Veolia has completed the task.

and

(2) Dear stakeholder,

I am writing to let you know about urgent sewer repair work we will be carrying out on Seafield Street in Edinburgh.

From Monday 28 July 2025 we will be closing one lane at the junction with Seafield Road so that we can carry out the work safely.

Temporary traffic lights will be in operation, and it is possible there may be some delays.

We anticipate completing the work within a week.

We would like to thank everyone affected for their patience and understanding.

Kind regards,

Matt

 

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Leith Festival Gala Day coming up!

The great Leith Festival Gala Day is nearly upon us! Next Saturday 14th June, 10am-5pm, on Leith Links. It’s always fun, and a great chance to catch up with people and all the amazing things going on in and around our lovely neighbourhood. You need to be there!

The Leith Links Community Council will be there on a stall, with our colleagues from the other Leith Community Councils. Do come and have a chat with us about what is important to you, about our area.

And be sure to sign one of our postcards, which we will be delivering to the CEO of

Scottish Water, to let him know that we have HAD ENOUGH of the evil smells from Seafield…..!

Lots of other exciting events in Leith all the following week, too!

 

Seafield Stench hits the Evening News!

The appalling stench from the Seafield Sewage Works that local residents have been suffering throughout the recent hot spell has hit the headlines this week, as complaints sent in via this website hit a record high.

Read the article here.

Spoiler  – not one penny of the £10million promised back in 2020 for odour mitigating improvements has yet been spent – basically no work has yet been carried out.

We are happy that local MSP Ben MacPherson has stepped up to reiterate commitment to “make sure that significant investment and further improvement is delivered ASAP” so hopefully he will put pressure on Scottish Water to get on with it!!!”

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Stinking Seafield! Scottish Water replies…..

After weeks of appalling sewage smells, and after sending through an unprecedented high number of complaints from the local community, on our online forms,  the Community Council has today received this missive from Scottish Water:

Dear stakeholder,

I am writing to update you about the odour issues that have been impacting customers living close to the Seafield Waste Water Treatment Works in recent days.

You will be aware Scotland is currently experiencing the driest start to the year in more than 60 years.

This long period of dry, hot weather has combined with sustained onshore winds at Seafield creating a ‘perfect storm’ where slow moving sewage is already giving off a strong odour by the time it arrives at the works.

This is simply because with less surface and grey water entering the sewer system, sewage is more concentrated than usual.

An independent review commissioned by the Scottish Government in 2017 highlighted this increased risk of odour as an unavoidable consequence of the weather conditions we are currently experiencing.

This can be mitigated by wind direction but we are also experiencing an unprecedented level of onshore wind for this time of year.

However, there are some immediate actions that we are implementing. 

  • We have increased chemical dosing at Seafield and are working with partners to ensure this is at levels that will have an effect on the first point where sewage arrives at Seafield.
  • We are switching to a specific chemical where the sewage enters Seafield that ‘targets’ the specific odour causing most of the issues.
  • Further discussions are being held today, and a site meeting tomorrow to evaluate additional measures that could include increasing dosing points that again specifically target the inlet works.
  • All non-essential maintenance activity has been suspended, and this will remain in place for the remainder of this week and then reviewed again.

Please be reassured every complaint is being looked at, investigated and acted upon and we will continue to work closely with the site operators Veolia to address the problem.

We will be in touch with an update when we have more information.

Matt Bingham

Senior Communications & Engagement Consultant

Scottish Water

Buchanan Gate Business Park,

Cumbernauld Road, Stepps,

Glasgow

G33 6FB

Tel: 07709 504 350

Email:matt.bingham@scottishwater.co.uk

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Next meeting of Leith Links Community Council, Duncan Place, 6:30pm, Monday 26 May 2025.

The next meeting of Leith Links Community Council will be held in person at Duncan Place at 6:30pm on Monday 26 May 2025.

Minutes of previous meeting are here.

Agenda is here.

This will be the second meeting of the new Community Council, as elected in March 2025, and we will welcome our new Community Councillors, and any local residents who wish to attend. Thre are quite a few things going on locally so it’s good to catch up!

A Teams link will be set up for councillors and local residents who are unable to attend in person, but we do not have the technical facilities to guarantee a good ‘hybrid’ set up.

Please email contact@leithlinkscc.org.uk if you wish to receive an online link.

 

Community Councils Together

The community council elections are taking place across Edinburgh. The three Leith community councils have a stall at Leith Market, today 15th February. If you want to find out more about what we do, please come along and speak to us. We’re always willing to listen to local residents.

Hello Sun! ……Hello Stench?

As the weather warms and softens a little, local people will have noticed the return of our old friend(?),  the disgusting ‘Seafield Stench’.

Despite the assurances of the sewage plant operator Veolia, that the weather and the smells are not connected, we have all noticed that the Stench seems to descend on sunny days, just to try us. Report smells here!

Same campaign success, some progress?

Although it is a long-running saga, local people may remember that our years of campaigning DID get the Scottish Government to commit funding-

  1.  – to build a £100,000 million state-of-the-art new Sewage Plant, starting in 2029 when the current private finance agreement with Veolia comes to an end, and
  2.  – in the meantime, to spend £10 million on improvements to the existing plant, aimed at reducing odour problems.

These improvements are, sadly, still at the procurement stage, and they are not expected to ‘break ground’ until early 2025. Though they may well improve things longer term, it’s possible that there will be more, rather than fewer, stink incidents next year, as the work disrupts the normal running of the plant. So it’s important to keep them on their toes!

Reporting Portal Working again, please report!

Those in authority have openly admitted that our reporting facility (see on this page), which so many of you used to great effect, was a huge factor in getting the Government to commit to spending on Seafield. Unfortunately, for the past few months it hasn’t been working properly due to technical glitches

However, we have got the report form system working again and some of you have already been using it to complain about our recent, treasured sunny days becoming stinky days.

So please take the few moments needed to report every time you smell sewage from Seafield. Your reports go to every official who has anything to do with Seafield Waste Water Treatment facility, right up to the Scottish Government Minister, who gets every email!

It worked the last time, let’s keep the pressure up!

Report smells here! leithlinkscc.org.uk/seafieldnuisancereportform

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Next meeting of Leith Links Community Council, Monday 27th June at 6:30pm, online

The next meeting of the Leith Links Community Council will be held on Monday 27th June at 6:30pm, online (Microsoft Teams)

Papers for the meeting will be issued soon.

Scottish Water and the operators of Seafield, Veolia, will be attending to give an update on the sewage plant and answer questions about recent odour issues.

As always, our meetings are open to interested members of the public. If you wish to attend, please email contact@leithlinkscc.org.uk and you will be sent an invitation / link for the meeting.

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Leith Links Community Council next meeting Monday 28th February 6:30 online

The next meeting of the Leith Links Community Council will be held on Monday 28th, February at 6:30pm, online (Microsoft Teams)

The Agenda for the next meeting and minutes of January’s meeting will be issued shortly

As always, our meetings are open to interested members of the public. If you wish to attend, please email contact@leithlinkscc.org.uk and you will be sent an invitation / link for the meeting.

Thank you for your support

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