A chicken factory has been fined £300,000 after a town was forced to endure an awful smell coming from the site.

Banham Poultry, in Attleborough, has been fined in court for failing to stop odour pollution from its slaughterhouse.

The putrid smell saw nearly 350 complaints made to the Environment Agency (EA) between 2019 and 2021, which painted a grim picture of what life was like for those living and working in the area.

At the hearing on September 15, district judge Andrew King heard how the abattoir had broken or damaged doors and walls, a roof so weak it collapsed, and another part of the site unsafe for the EA to enter.

He also acknowledged practices at Banham Poultry had a “significant effect on the quality of life” in the town.

But in a response from Banham Poultry following the hearing, a spokesperson said that since being taken over in October 2021 the new management team have shown a "commitment to being a good neighbour and are keen to play a positive role in the local community".

They added: "The Environment Agency has been pleased with the progress made since the new owners took over.

"Banham will continue to work very hard to eliminate these issues in the future.

"A planning application has already been submitted for Station Road which will significantly improve the site.

"Equally we will continue to have positive dialogue with local residents and the regulator."

The Environmental Agency initially warned the company to act after nine complaints about the slaughterhouse were made early in 2019 - under its previous owner.

Believing the company had breached its permit for managing smells, investigators gave Banham Poultry an enforcement notice to limit or prevent odours leaving the boundary of the abattoir.

Sophie Cousins, who led the investigation into the abattoir for the EA, said: “Banham Poultry failed to invest in odour-prevention.

"People living and working nearby were badly affected over a long period of time.

“The Environment Agency decided on prosecution after Banham missed many chances to comply with the law. We gave them time and assistance to put matters right, but the problems just mounted up.”

But the site’s odour management plan, meant to control the effect of work on the community, was “ripped up,” according to one employee.

Another member of staff wrote in an e-mail in 2019 that they were “embarrassed” and couldn’t defend the company’s poor management of the site, adding “we stink”.

Despite multiple warnings, the Environment Agency reported that they were often ignored.

Judge King also said: “The Environment Agency was seeking to work with Banham Poultry - far and beyond what was required of them as a regulator.

"Investigators sought to solve problems, providing training to various levels of management, seemingly to no avail.”

The court heard foul-smelling air escaped through damaged and open doors.

Other parts of the building were badly corroded and beyond repair.

During various inspections, investigators also found carcasses stored outside in the hot sun and dead animals kept in a trailer in "sweltering conditions" with no refrigeration.

The company pleaded guilty to failing to keep activities free from odour levels likely to cause pollution outside the abattoir between January 2019 and September 2021.

Banham also admitted not complying with an enforcement notice served on it by the EA that set out steps they should have taken to limit or prevent odours leaving the site.

Judge King ruled the offences as "reckless culpability".

He fined Banham Poultry £300,000 for breaching regulation 38 (2) of the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2016.

But he imposed no separate penalty for a breach of regulation 38 (3), for not complying with the enforcement notice.

The business was also ordered to pay £67,621.45 in costs and a victim surcharge of £170.