Residents in Clayton-le-Woods and Whittle-le-Woods up in arms over stench wafting from Clayton Hall Landfill Site

A foul smell wafting across Clayton-le-Woods and Whittle-le-Woods is waking residents up at night.
Councillor Mark Clifford on a visit to the siteCouncillor Mark Clifford on a visit to the site
Councillor Mark Clifford on a visit to the site

The Clayton Hall Landfill Site has long been controversial but residents in Leyland say the pong emanating from the site this weekend has been worse than ever.

Lidia Lee, 43, who lives in Leyland, said: “Its like rotten eggs with a smell of gas. It’s pungent, it literally makes me want to gag.”

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Writing on Facebook on Monday one resident Matt Banks said: “Our entire household woke up this morning with the smell inside the house, no windows open.

“It is the strongest so far outside on the Spring Meadow estate. We are going to re-report it this morning, really not happy with the thought of our children breathing these gases in along with all the other families in the area.”

Vice-chairman at Clayton-le-Woods Parish Council Mark Clifford told the Guardian how he witnessed gas escaping from the Dawson Lane site on a visit in early December.

“They have had to cut through the existing waste in order to expand the site,” he said. “They haven’t been able to get their trucks up to cover the waste which is years old and rotting.

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“They are filling the site with processed waste which doesn’t smell but it’s the rotting waste that they’ve cut into which is causing the terrible odour.

“You can see steam pockets coming out. It depends on which way the wind blows but you can smell it in Whittle and Clayton-le-Woods.

“They need to sink bore holes down with pipes to extract the gas from the site. It goes into an engine which produces electricity for the National Grid.

“I am working with the management but the dates that they will have this done by keep slipping. Christmas is coming up and people will be visiting, it’s not on.

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“Everyone has had enough of this and it’s high time the management get this sorted and sorted now.”

Meanwhile the Environment Agency has confirmed it is investigating the odour. A newsletter sent to residents states: “We require the permit holder, Quercia Ltd to take appropriate measures to minimise the impact the site is having on the community.

"They already have a specialist landfill gas management contractor on site to collect the gas on site to generate electricity but the company is aware they must do better.

"The operator has started works on site to improve capping and is installing more gas collection wells.

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"This cannot be done immediately but gas containment will be improved when completed. We will be visiting the site regularly to ensure that improvements are on schedule.”

Quercia has not responded to requests for a comment.