'Landfill site stench was so bad I left town'
Nicola BurnsA woman who lives near a tip which has sparked more than 20,000 complaints about its smell has said it got so bad last week that she had left town for four days to escape from the stench.
The site on Jameson Road in Fleetwood, Lancashire, has faced complaints for years, with some nearby residents claiming it had affected their health.
The facility's operator Transwaste had been due to start installing permanent capping last week to tackle the issue, but work was delayed due to bad weather.
Resident Nicola Burns, who said described the tip as smelling like "rotten eggs", urged: "Something needs to be done - it is absolutely horrendous at the minute."
'Mortified at the smell'
"It's awful," she added. "I was up last night with my little one and the smell coming through the house was absolutely dreadful, one of the worst I've actually known.
"We just can't even go outside in it.
"I even took myself off to Essex for four days with the children this week because it's just so bad.
"There's nothing we can do with them outdoors."
The Environment Agency (EA) said it was pressing Transwaste to install the barrier as soon as possible - which helps to control gas and keep smells in.
It said its officers were "on the ground, actively monitoring the situation".
Transwaste said the air quality in the area was "well within World Health Organization safety limits".
It said it also was "working as quickly as possible during the periods of good weather".
Burns said football fans visiting Fleetwood from London on Monday were complaining about the "disgusting" smell.
"They were absolutely mortified at the smell, and that's people travelling into our town," she told BBC Radio Lancashire.
"They were asking questions: 'How are you managing to live in this?' And the answer is 'Well, we're not'.
"You think you're coming to a little seaside town and it's going to be all nice but it's absolutely not."
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