Residents in Fleetwood, Lancashire, say they have been forced to keep their windows and doors firmly shut (Picture: Lancs Live/MEN Media)
There’s something rotten going on in a Lancashire town and it’s not just putting people off their dinners – it’s putting them off buying houses.
Homeowners have locked themselves away for weeks in a desperate bid to swerve the stink that’s been plaguing Fleetwood.
Jessica Brown, who has set up a Facebook group against the nearby landfill site responsible for the stench, said: ‘We’ve had reports on the group of nausea, nosebleeds, breathing conditions, skin irritation, sinus problems – so many things are coming up.
‘The main ones are headaches and breathing conditions.’
The site, overlooking the scenic Fleetwood Marsh Nature Reserve, is undergoing works that – unfortunately for those living close by – involves leaving rubbish uncovered.
It means the horrible smell coming off it has been wafted along by the usually pleasant coastal breeze straight into people’s windows.
In Harbour Village, dogwalkers who usually treasure their scenic strolls say they now ‘dread’ opening the front door.
Angela Thomas moved to the area three years ago for its quiet surroundings and picturesque scenery as a retirement plan after she stops working at the end of this month.
But instead of planning a new and more relaxing chapter in her life, she now feels as though she can’t even take her dog for a walk.
She said: ‘I do poke my nose out of the door now, before I even think about taking Blue [Angela’s dog] out for a walk.
‘I don’t want to walk in that smell, absolutely not. I work from home and I can’t even open my window because you don’t know when it’s coming.’
Jessica Brown started a resident’s Facebook group about the odour (Picture: Lancs Live/MEN Media)
Jenni Hague lives two streets away from the landfill site.
She suffers with emphysema and chronic asthma, so needs the windows open in her home to aid her breathing – something she says she can’t do at the moment because of the smell.
‘We tend to go out on the school run in the morning and not come back home as many times as possible during the day,’ she said.
Transwaste, which took over ownership of the landfill from Suez last year, apologised for the smell.
A spokesman said the upgrade work ‘does mean that for a short and temporary period, the waste is uncovered whilst it is moved around, which inevitably can create some odour’.
He added: ‘The problem is exacerbated by the height of cell 5, which makes it more prone to wind which can carry the odour offsite, and recent bad weather and heavy rainfall have meant that this completion work has taken longer than anticipated.
‘We apologise for any odours caused by this rectification work and would like to reassure residents that this is a short-term, temporary issue as we modernise and improve odour control.’
The company insisted it is ‘keen to be good neighbours and work closely with the local community’.
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A spokesperson for Wyre Council said: ‘We are working closely with the site operator and the Environment Agency (EA) to address the issue and will provide an update when we have more information.
‘In the meantime, we are advising anyone affected to report this using our online odour complaint form and report the issue to the EA.’
An Environment Agency spokesperson said: ‘We have increased our compliance visits to the site to make sure the operator is reducing the risk of emissions and odour.
‘We also have officers in the community to investigate odour levels around the landfill site.
‘We are keeping multiagency partners informed and will look to work together to resolve this issue to prevent further impact on the community.’
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