'Liquid discharge' at landfill site investigated

Residents have staged a long-running campaign about the tip smell

A controversial landfill site plagued by complaints about a stench of rotten eggs is being investigated over a liquid discharge close to a nearby river.

The Environment Agency (EA) said it was investigating a "small liquid discharge" close to the River Wyre in Lancashire.

The tip on Jameson Road in Fleetwood has faced a flurry of complaints, with some residents claiming their health had suffered as a result of living close to the site.

Operator Transwaste said recent independent monitoring reports have noted the problem is now "barely perceptible".

However, the EA's latest report, part of its continuing monitoring of the site, said it has "several questions" about the "accuracy of the information provided" by Transwaste.

The Environment Agency is carrying out regular odour checks at the site

The EA said that although the odour issue had eased and there had been fewer reports of a smell, officers themselves had still noticed it.

This was despite the fact that recent reports for Transwaste had noted the odour problem was now "barely perceptible" and more recently still, stated "there was no odour at all".

Residents have also challenged these reports.

The EA said: "Our odour surveys have included weekends and early mornings when people have reported that odours are present.

"The community should not have to tolerate odours that affect their environment."

'Shut the place down'

The agency said: "Last week we issued the company with a regulatory notice. This requires them to provide an updated gas management plan and an updated odour management plan.

"Transwaste have advised us that they are working to this deadline.

"We have received several reports of a small liquid discharge at the southern edge of the landfill boundary, near to the River Wyre.

"We have sampled this discharge and our investigations are ongoing."

In its own latest report, Transwaste said odour levels "remain very low", the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

But campaigner Jess Brown, from protest group Action Against Jameson Road Landfill, said: "These reports are fairy stories with no credibility at all.

"The only way these emissions will stop is to simply shut the place down."