The villagers of Great Heck living by a burning pile of rubbish

The burning tip in Great Heck is roughly 15m (50ft) high in some places

Diggers are moving in to start the unenviable task of removing 10,000 tonnes of smelly, burning waste from an abandoned village tip. But what has life been like for the people living underneath the "smog" it has created for the past few months?

Since the firm running the site collapsed in July, residents of Great Heck, North Yorkshire, have complained the smouldering rubbish towers, roughly 15m (50ft) high in places, have caused health problems and forced some out of their homes.

The Environment Agency and Selby District Council, which had to jointly apply for extra funding to arrange the £750,000 clearance, have said they hope to remove the waste responsible for the smell in the next seven weeks. They hope to give the villagers a Christmas present of no longer living in the shadow of a giant pile of putrid refuse.

Sarah Webster, who lives about 250m (800ft) away from the tip, said: "My last Sunday dinner actually tasted of it, I don't want to be eating my Christmas dinner with this stink."

After the rubbish is eventually cleared she knows her carpets, car and caravan will require a deep clean.

The fire service is at the site on a daily basis to put out fires

The 41-year-old, who has three children, said: "We get it so strong here, when I close my gate I have to cover my mouth.

"We have all had breathing problems, coughs, sore throats, eye problems, headaches, and it must be all down to the site."

Sarah Webster said she was told the site had no proven health risks, but her family had all required hospital visits

She continued: "My dad passed out and we had to call an ambulance, he couldn't get enough air in.

"I'm worried sick it's going to cause long-term health impacts."

Wagstaff Total Waste Management Ltd, the firm stockpiling mixed recyclable waste at the site, entered voluntary liquidation on 13 July.

The new landowner has not been able to clear the site because of the scale of the job in hand and the finances involved.

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service is in Great Heck on a daily basis to put out fires, with the smoke drifting over the village and surrounding areas.

Dave Bramley, 46, lives about 300m (1,000ft) away with his family and said their quality of life was now dependant on a "wind direction lottery".

He said: "If you're downwind from the waste, the smoke and fumes are very dense and very dangerous.

"We close our windows and doors as suggested, but it's coming down the chimney. You can't stop it coming in the house."

Dave Bramley said a temporary shelter should be set up during the clearance for a place to stay away from the tip

Mr Bramley said after months of dealing with the smell, they decided to move away.

"I just said, 'enough is enough, it's time to leave'. We slept a long way away on the floor of a relative's house for almost a week.

"You go home after a bad day at work and you don't feel happy to be there anymore - you feel unsafe, you feel worried. Nobody really knows what's burning in that fire."

He suggested a temporary shelter should be set up for villagers to be able to get away from the fumes.

"It's like a smog over the village", he said.

A decision about a possible prosecution over permit breaches at the site could be made shortly, the Environment Agency said.

Smoke from fires at the dump can be seen from a nearby playground

Richard Clarke, environment manager at the agency, said: "I know for the public it has seemed a long period from the first fires at the site to where we are today, but we have been really busy trying to get to this point.

"The public purse doesn't have the money for this routinely, this is an exceptional circumstance."

The waste is being moved to three other landfill sites and an energy from waste plant in the region.

Hazel Benson-Collinson, who lives in Great Heck, said she was told the site posed no known health risks but decided to start keeping a diary.

"One entry, on 21 October, says all five of us were physically sick because of it," she said.

"We had to have fires over the summer to stop it coming down the chimney. You're a prisoner in your own house."

Hazel Benson-Collinson (r) and her daughter Scarlet said both had suffered health problems because of the tip

Mrs Benson-Collinson's daughter Scarlet, 19, said she was concerned children were still using a park metres away from the burning tip.

She said: "I took my friend's little girl to the playground but we had to turn around and go home as soon as we arrived."

Scarlet's mother was sceptical about the issue being sorted by Christmas.

"We have been left with all this mess and the health hazards, so you get a bit cynical about any promises," she said.

"I just want it clearing."