Council's Llanelli fly infestation response to be probed

Local resident Judith Turnell brought a bag of dead flies to a public meeting about the fly infestation

The way a council responded to a town's fly infestation is to be looked at by one of its own scrutiny committees.

Homes in some parts of Llanelli faced hundreds of flies coming in each day over a few weeks in May and June, leaving residents baffled and angry.

Carmarthenshire council passed on responsibility to Natural Resources Wales to tackle the problem.

An AMG Resources scrap metal recycling site in Llanelli was identified as the "most likely" source of the flies.

• Anger over mystery fly infestation

• Metal plant 'likely' site of fly problem

• Experts sent to solve fly infestation

The council's environmental and public protection scrutiny committee will look at how the council performed in its response.

"Members felt strongly that a report about the fly infestation should be prepared by officers and discussed as part of our ongoing committee work," committee chairman John James said.

The infestation has plagued residents in the New Dock area of Llanelli

"We are aware from updates made by the executive board member at full council that officers had committed significant time and resources in responding to public concerns about the infestation, and so this is an opportunity for us as members to discuss the process and the council's response.

"This is not something we were pressurised into doing, rather it was something that members of the scrutiny committee felt strongly about."

Residents claimed at the time they "shamed" the council into investigating the problem by protesting.