Moving close to the Harpenden sewage works - crazy?

[onthemove5342]

We've found a house we like in Harpenden but can see the sewage works are about 600m away! It is near Crabtree and High Beeches schools.

Is this too close? For those who know the area:

a) how often do you smell it (number times per year?)

b) how bad is the smell (do you have to go inside and close all the windows?)

Thanks!!

@onthemove5342 Did you ever get an answer to your question from Mumsnet or otherwise? We are also looking at a house we like in Crabtree about 250m away and have the same questions. Thanks :)

We had some feedback on other sites, general consensus from 5-10 people living in the Aldwickbury Crescent area and nearby was you only smell it "very occasionally" and then only mild smell.

I ran into one of my colleagues who's lived in St Albans for 30 years and when I asked if he knew of any issues his immediate reaction was "oh yes stay well away everyone knows it is a terrible smell there", so I don't know what to believe (maybe it was worse in the past which gave it that reputation but it's fine now?).

In any case, we ended up passing on a house we liked nearby - it was literally perfect in every way except for its proximity to the sewar works (about 750m). We currently live about 1km from a small chicken farm which we didn't know about when we bought our current house, and about 5 or 6 times a year the smell is bad enough to make you want to throw up - so we will never risk a bad smell again!!

You'd be just fine there. I live about a mile away and have lived here for decades and the only time you might smell it is right next to it in summer with the wind in the wrong direction.