Industrial site stink making people ill, says MP

The government should do more to combat a "putrid" industrial waste site which local residents say is making them ill, their MP has said.

People in Kirkby, Merseyside, have complained about ongoing smells, noise and dust from the Simonswood Industrial Estate in Bickerstaffe.

Knowsley's Labour MP Anneliese Midgley said Environment Agency (EA) enforcement action had not improved the situation and asked Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy - standing in for Sir Keir Starmer at Prime Minister's Questions - for help to "sort this nightmare and stop the Simonswood Stink".

Lammy agreed the situation was "unacceptable" and "people are right to be furious".

Midgley said: "People struggle to breathe, they are sick, they have to live with their windows shut and schools sometimes shut down for days.

"I've been campaigning on it with our Labour councillors but the response from the Environment Agency has been slow and ineffective."

Lammy said the EA was taking action to prevent further dumping.

"We are giving them more powers and recourses to crack down on fly-tipping," he said.

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