Three enforcement notices issued to prominent Tyrone company

STORMONT’s environment department has issued three enforcement notices to a well-known Tyrone company in the last year.

Details of the enforcement notices issued to Lakeland Diaries emerged after local residents complained about a ‘bad odour’ coming from the company’s Artigarvan factory.

People living in the village say they have been complaining about the smell for a number of years.

In a statement last month, Lakeland Diaries said the firm ‘works tirelessly to ensure the plant continues to meet all its legislative requirements and endeavours to meet the expectations of residents’.

The issue around the Artigarvan smell has been raised at the Northern Ireland Assembly.

West Tyrone SDLP MLA Daniel McCrossan asked the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, Andrew Muir, what action the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) were taking to address issues around the foul odours in Artigarvan.

In response, Mr Muir this week said NIEA had issued three enforcement notices to Lakeland Diaries in the last year.

He said one of the notices related to odour, one to breaches of the company’s emissions limits in their permit covering discharges from their effluent treatment plant and one related to breaches of the emissions limits in their permit covering discharges of surface water.

“These notices have led to the company carrying out significant improvement works at the site, with more work currently ongoing,” added the Minister.

“This work has included improvements to their effluent treatment plant, drainage on the site and containment of potential odour sources.”

Mr Muir said NIEA officials are in ‘regular contact’ with the company about this ongoing work.

“They continue to take necessary and proportionate enforcement action in line with the DAERA Enforcement Policy where appropriate,” he said.

“The majority of the improvement works have been completed to date with additional measures being identified to be completed by the end of July 2025.

“NIEA also regularly engages with local stakeholders about their concerns, including residents and elected representatives.”

Some Artigarvan residents recently held a protest outside the local factory to highlight their concerns about the smell.

Responding to the protest, a spokesperson for Lakeland Dairies said: “This time of year is particularly busy in our industry, including our Artigarvan facility.

“The company works tirelessly to ensure the plant continues to meet all its legislative requirements and endeavours to meet the expectations of residents.

“We engage with the residents of the Artigarvan community regularly and will continue to do so.”