How Rushden found itself caught up in a fly 'nightmare'

"It is a nightmare," says painter and decorator Christopher House. "Before you know it, they are all over you - it is not great."

It's a bright and unseasonably warm September's day at an industrial estate on the edge of Rushden. Yet here, inside a large, lilac and white business unit, the workers have barricaded themselves in against an unlikely enemy: flies.

"It is a nightmare," says painter and decorator Christopher House. "Before you know it, they are all over you."

Mr House is one of the 40 or so employees working at Harbur Park and Leisure Homes on the Sanders Lodge Industrial Estate in Rushden, Northamptonshire.

"It affects us during lunch hours as well - the canteen is just swarming and some people are eating their lunch out in their cars."

The managing director of Harbour Park and Leisure Homes says he would never have set up shop on the estate if he had known about the fly problem

Earlier this month Rushden's fly problem was raised in parliament, by Wellingborough's Conservative MP Peter Bone.

His request for the creation of a "fly minister to swat the problem" was turned down by the Leader of the House, Penny Mordaunt, who instead vowed to raise the matter with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

Businesses and residents say they think the recycling centre Monoworld is responsible for the fly problem. Monoworld declined to respond publicly about the claims. However, the BBC understands that the company strongly denies it is the cause of any of the current problems and believes its control procedures are fully effective.

The Environment Agency confirmed it had "received and investigated a number of complaints about flies" from the Monoworld site.

An agency spokesperson said: "Through working with the operators, they have made improvements to their working practices and have an active fly management plan in place which is being followed.

"Environment officers are in contact with the site and will continue to undertake inspections throughout the year to ensure the operator complies with [its] environmental permit."

Managing director Daniel Burns with the fly strips that hang above a large table in the canteen area

"At first it seems fairly trivial - it is just flies - but when it becomes a huge amount you feel like you're breathing them in and out the whole time," says Daniel Burns, the managing director of Harbur Park and Leisure Homes.

He started the business in Rushden last year.

"We noticed the issue a little bit when we first moved in," Mr Burns says.

"As it came into the summer things got very bad.

"If we'd have known about it, we not have moved here - we would have gone somewhere else."

• MP asks 'fly minister to swat problem' in town

• The dangerous plants lurking in plain sight

• Do people really swallow spiders in their sleep?

Initially "completely oblivious to the fly situation", Ms Drake has since invested in fly sprays and various fly traps

Zoe Drake moved into her first house - in Melloway Road, Rushden - just six months ago.

Initially "completely oblivious to the fly situation", Ms Drake has since invested in fly sprays and various fly traps.

"As it got warmer, we realised it was more than just a few flies - there were a lot of flies. We can't sit outside - as soon as we sit outside with food on the table we get an influx of flies.

"We invested in one of those fly traps which filled up in a week and a half and had maggots on the top - it was just disgusting.

"We love the house - but it has made our first summer in our first house quite miserable to be honest."

Rachel Birch says she cannot sit out in her garden without being bombarded by flies

Rachel Birch has lived in the area for 14 years.

"It is not just this summer it has been over a lot of summers," she says. "It has been horrendous.

"We can't sit out in our garden and enjoy a meal without being bombarded.

"It is just awful," she says.

Tracy Myers, of Wellingborough Road, says she has to cover ingredients when cooking a meal because of the flies

Tracy Myers has lived in this part of Rushden for 16 years.

"It has been particularly bad this summer. You can't open the windows or the flies invade your house.

"They send the dogs crazy as well.

"You are constantly cleaning surfaces, you can't leave food out, you have to keep everything covered even when you are cooking a meal because the flies are there all the time.

"There must be something that can be put into practice that can reduce the fly risk."

Back at Harbur Park and Leisure Homes, the BBC visits the second floor offices.

The office used by Sam Baylis has a tennis racket-style electrified fly swatter leaned up against a wall and a large UV fly-killing unit

The windows are shut tight and the sound of work is peppered with the staccato crackle of insects meeting their maker against the electrical fly zapper.

The firm's marketing manager Sam Baylis shows the BBC the tennis racket-style electrified fly swatter, leaned up against a wall.

"On a couple of occasions I've had fruit in my bag and I've not had the zip done up," she says. "When I've opened it up I have lots of flies just come out of it. It is quite gross.

"Rather than eating the banana we put it in front of the fly zapper.

"We've tried the tape, we've got the zappers and we've got the tennis racket - we've tried to make a game of it.

"And when we hear the zap, they get a cheer."