ENVIRONMENT chiefs have cleared British Sugar of breaching a permit when decommissioning work at its former York factory caused a big stink.

Residents living in the Boroughbridge Road area complained last month about a foul stench wafting off the factory site, where contractors have begun demolishing the sugar beet processing plant.

One local man said the odour was "absolutely awful" - like a mixture of manure and rotten eggs - and said he was concerned that people's health might be put at risk.

British Sugar apologised to residents, but insisted no one's health had been put in any jeopardy.

It revealed the smell had been caused by untreated water.

It said that, as part of the demolition process, control systems on site had been decommissioned, leading to a treatment system failing to treat waste water stored in huge lagoons prior to discharge into the river.

It said that when warm weather arrived, the untreated water had begun to give off an odour, but contractors were working hard to treat the waste water and get rid of the smell.

Environmental health chiefs at City of York Council launched an investigation after being alerted to the problem by The Press, but later passed on the matter to the Environment Agency.

The agency said last month that it had granted British Sugar an environmental protection regulations permit for the work to decommission the site, and would be investigating whether British Sugar had breached the permit.

An agency spokeswoman said today that it had now received a report on the incident from British Sugar, and was satisfied there had been no breach.

No further action would therefore be taken.

A local resident who first raised concerns about the smell, who does not wish to be identified, said: "I cannot understand how they can create an odour that was so unpleasant but still did not breach any condition.

"And I would still like to know what chemicals were in the odour that we were subjected to.

"If British Sugar is confident there was no problem to health, it should be able to tell us that."

A British Sugar spokesman said: "Clearly, we will continue to work with the regulatory authorities to ensure that our impact on the local community is minimised."