Bosses at an under-fire salmon firm are to meet residents of a Skye community over complaints of an odour and a noise coming from a new state-of-the-art feed plant.
The construction phase of the Mowi-operated facility at Kyleakin – which cost £100million – is now complete, with the plant entering its commissioning phase back in May.
But residents have complained of “some new additions” they claim to have come to the village since operations went live, including a strong smell and a humming sound.
Mowi, formerly known as Marine Harvest, operate the brand new facility and are now inviting members of the local community and community council into their plant to listen to their concerns and enhance community relations.
Mowi bosses said earlier this week they were “confident” of resolving the issues.
The event on Tuesday will involve an informal drop-in session, with residents invited to attend at any time between 3pm and 7pm.
Mowi’s operations director Claes Jonermark addressed the issues residents raised with The Press and Journal earlier this week, stating that odour emissions are being checked at “specific points” around the village twice a day.
He added that engineer experts are on-site to determine the salmon company’s strategy.
Councillor John Finlayson, who resides in the village of Kyleakin, said: “Following the expression of concerns from residents who live close to the Feed plant I met with the Management Team at Mowi, who were open and honest about the fact that the concerns expressed were valid, and they were in the process of carrying out surveys to ascertain how to improve things.
“They also indicated they were putting in place short term measures to improve issues relating to smell and some noise concerns they themselves had identified.
“A meeting with nearby residents and members of the community council has also been organised for next week, where I am sure concerns will be recognised and plans confirmed to address them.”
The new feed plant is expected to deliver a £2million annual boost to the local economy.
The plant is expected to evolve into continuous production of commercial feed after summer has concluded.
