A PLAN to build a 28ft tower in Queen’s Park that will act as a vent for a new sewer has caused a fresh stink.

Scottish Water bowed to pressure from locals and moved the original proposed location of the vent stack to a different part of the park.

But despite the attempt at a compromise, local representatives are still complaining.

The plan has resulted in objections from local MP Alison Thewliss, city councillor Soryia Siddique, Shawlands and Strathbungo community council and five members of the public.

Ms Thewliss has raised concerns that the park will be affected by the release of foul smelling fumes from the vent stack.

As previously told in the Evening Times, Scottish Water is in the process of constructing a three mile long waste water tunnel in the south of the city as part of the biggest upgrade of the city’s waste water network in more than a century.

Part of the scheme involves a new sewer tunnel between Queen’s Park and Craigton industrial estate running through Pollok and Bellahouston parks.

The £100million tunnel will improve water quality in the River Clyde and its tributaries and reduce flooding.

Work, which involves using a specially designed tunnel boring machine, started in the middle of 2014 and was expected to take more than three years to complete.

In August last year, a planning application for a tall vent stack in Queen Park resulted in 43 letters of objection and following a public meeting, Scottish Water withdrew the plan.

The new scheme involves a vent stack on a different site in Queen’s Park and a new access road leading to the shaft and odour control plant which will be built in a park storage area around 100metres to the west of the park’s bowling greens.

A report to city councillors says experts have assessed the potential loss of amenity as a result of odour and have no objections to the work.

It adds: “Scottish Water have stated the purpose of the vent stack is to treat odour nuisance through carbon filtration.

“The only time there will be untreated release of gases will be in the event of an extreme weather event.

“Such an event is expected to occur only when there is heavy rainfall and such an event is expected to last for about five hours in a year.

“In such cases, Scottish Water are confident the release will still meet the relevant Scottish Environmental Protection Agency air quality standards.”

The report says Scottish Water has responded to the concerns of local people by repositioning the stack in an operational service yard which is screened by mature trees.

It adds: “It is considered once the park has been remediated following the completion of the works associated with the Shieldhall strategic tunnel that the proposed works will have limited implications for the natural environment as the works shall see only limited tree removal with consequent re-planting being a condition.”