A ‘toxic stench’ is causing nose bleeds, headaches and breathing problems according to residents of a UK town but they say the council is doing nothing to ease their concerns
Residents of a British town are calling on their council to do something about the toxic stench coming from a nearby landfill as they fear it’s toxic and causing health problems. In fact, they are so worried about the potential health implications that many parents won’t let their children play outside.
Hundreds of residents of Fleetwood in Lancashire turned out to protest again today (March 22) – the ninth time they have protested about a bad smell coming from a nearby landfill since April 2024.
READ MORE: Toxic Town true story as Netflix viewers left in tears by horrific real-life drama
Worried locals have been complaining about the ‘toxic’ smell coming from a landfill site near them for almost a year now but claim nothing has been done about it.
Jess Brown, a campaigner and mum to an eight-year-old girl, told The Mirror: “It isn’t getting any better – in fact, it’s got worse since early January. We are still having to live with the poisonous gasses coming from the landfill site, and it’s making people physically and mentally ill. Our children can’t play outside.
And, while Fleetwood, may be almost 200 miles north of Corby – the town featured in the Netflix hit Toxic Town – Jess says she can see the similarities. “Hundreds of people have complained of becoming ill,” she added. “Wyre Council could be doing a lot more than what they are.”
In 2023, the landfill was taken over by Transwaste from previous occupiers Suez with residents complaining of a foul stench not long after work started.
Jessica, who runs the Facebook group Action Against Jameson Road Landfill with more than 2,500 members says it’s something locals have to live with every day.
Speaking to LancsLive, she said: “We left it for a few months, when it only came in very mildly. Since January 4, it’s been really bad. It’s mainly around the evening time and when it’s been cold it’s been really bad.”
Landfill owners Transwaste have said the odour is from fresh waste, rather than landfill gas, which caused the previous issues. However, Jess says that the residents are looking to stage more protests in the next few weeks if the odour continues to be smelt across the town.
“People are having health issues again,” Jess explained. “Things like stingy eyes, headaches, breathing problems, so it is an ongoing thing again. I think a few people have been to the doctors about it. I thought we had actually got somewhere and put it to bed so we could get on with our lives, but we haven’t, unfortunately.”
In April 2024, LancsLive reported that the UK Health Security Agency could not rule out a risk to health, stating any risk to physical health is “likely to be small” but “cannot be completely excluded”.
An Environment Agency spokesperson said: “We’d like to reassure the community that we continue to carry out frequent site inspections to ensure the operator is meeting the conditions of its environmental permit.
“Landfills do, from time to time experience short-lived odour issues by the nature of their operations dealing with waste, and this can be a particular issue during poor weather conditions, like we’ve experienced recently.
“We understand the impact the odours have on the community and while positive steps have been taken to reduce odour issues at the site, we will not hesitate to take further enforcement action if our assessments show poor compliance or increased odour levels.”
READ MORE: St Tropez’s express tanning mousse has been knocked down to £12 in Amazon’s early spring sale