RESIDENTS have vowed to fight a recycling firm’s bid to get planning permission for its waste plant.

Recycled In Orsett (RIO), which operates in Dansard Quarry, off Stanford Road, turns waste material into soil and the company has recently lodged a planning application to stay on the site for another 10 years.

But people living close by say they will lobby against the plans after a series of issues at the site.

Maureen McPherson, 65, of Grovesnor Road, said: “It is horrible. I can’t sit outside in my garden as the stench from the site is terrible.

“The site is a hazard for residents.

We do not want it operating here at all.”

The firm was recently criticised by the Envrionment Agency for storing unauthorised waste and there have been two large fires at the site in the last four years.

RIO was asked by Thurrock Council to submit a full planning application in July, after it was revealed recently it had been operating on the site without permission since April 2013.

A spokesman for RIO said: “We have been in discussions with the council over whether to apply for a new application or renew the previous one. We put in a new application once we were advised to.

“We haven’t had any complaints for some time and are working with the Environment Agency to ensure residents will not suffer any further issues.”