'Foul' smell sees 1,000 complaints made in a week

More than one thousand complaints were made in the space of a week about the recurrence of a "foul" stench linked to a landfill.

The Environment Agency (EA) said it sympathises with the community in Calne, Wiltshire, after receiving as many complaints in a single week in March as the whole of last year.

Residents thought the long-running problem had been resolved last June, when the EA linked part of the problem to escaping gas from the Lower Compton site operated by Hills Waste Solutions.

The waste company told the BBC it is working hard to improve and is cooperating fully with the EA.

Simone Partner is one of the residents who complained about the recurring smell, which she said had "come back with a vengeance".

"It honestly feels like I'm living next to a gas leak; the stench, it's coming through my house whilst all the doors and windows are shut," she said.

"I've been waking up with severe headaches; it's been quite frankly awful."

Last year, the EA served Hills with an enforcement notice, ordering the company to finish a programme of landfill capping to reduce odours escaping from the site.

However, former town councillor Michael Hudston said the issue has not been resolved, and it is time to "close it down".

"The smell is still here, and it's a lot stronger, so whatever action they've taken has either made it worse or has not done anything at all," he said.

"I don't know where we go from here."

Chippenham MP Sarah Gibson has written to the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) about the problem and said Hills is taking it seriously.

"Hills is a local company; their reputation is important to them. Whether they have done enough is clearly an issue... and I think the EA are working quite hard to see what else needs to be done in order to try and stop this happening again," she said.

The waste company said: "Hills is aware of a recent increase in complaints relating to odour in the Calne area.

"Our landfill site at Lower Compton is regulated by the Environment Agency, and we continue to co-operate fully and transparently with Environment Agency investigations."

An EA Spokesperson said: "No area should have to tolerate unpleasant odours.

"Our officers have been out in Calne and the surrounding areas to assess conditions and identify all potential sources.

"We encourage anyone with information or who wishes to report concerns about the smell to contact our 24/7 incident hotline."

Follow BBC Wiltshire on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630.