MP demands more power to solve Avonmouth fly infestation

The council said "fly numbers will increase rapidly across the city in warm and humid weather"

An MP is calling for the government to allow for waste-processing plants in Avonmouth to be shut or moved due to nearby homes being infested with flies.

Bristol North West Labour MP Darren Jones said he wanted the Environment Agency to be given powers "to close or move the worst offending businesses".

He said there were "too many waste-processing facilities, too close together and too close to residents".

The city council said it took concerns "seriously" but had "found no issues".

Pub landlady Bev Gardner-Ponting said the fly infestations were "getting worse every year".

"I can't use fly spray, obviously, because of the beers and the wines," she said.

"Putting fly strips up is an embarrassment. A lot of my customers have been complaining about it. And people think it's unhygienic."

Bev Gardner-Ponting said she had tried to keep windows closed "but in this heat you can't"

Ian Scott, a local resident, said it was "making people go nuts".

"You can't sleep because they're buzzing around you. We've had enough."

Mr Jones said he had been left with "no choice" but to call on the government to "close and/or move some of the waste-processing facilities" in the area.

"I'd encourage my constituents to keep registering their complaints with the Environment Agency and Bristol City Council," he said.

Ian Scott said it was "making people go nuts"

Bristol City Council said it understood that residents were "concerned and upset" and it was taking "these concerns seriously".

"We visited three food premises and several residents in Avonmouth, but we found no issues at the time," a spokesman said.

"Fly numbers will increase rapidly across the city in warm and humid weather, but there is unlikely to be one particular source."

The Environment Agency said it was working with the city council to "identify potential sources of flies" and would "investigate promptly any reports of increasing fly numbers".