Councillor urges residents to keep diary of Rushton landfill site stenches

A councillor has urged anyone affected by the stench coming from Rushton's landfill site to keep a diary to help a call for action.

For years hundreds of complaints have been made about the smell of rotten eggs emanating from the Mick George site in Oakley Road, affecting those living in Storefield Cottages, Great Oakley and the Danesholme areas along the A6003 despite the winter cold.

In January one councillor called for the site to be shut down over their failure to control the odour. Now another, Corby Council's Cllr Judy Caine (Lab, Oakley South) wants those who smell it to log it each time and report it to her.

She said: "In order to help me address this issue I need to ask residents who are affected by the smells to please keep a diary for the next six weeks to keep track of any bad smell.

"I need know the location (i.e where they live), time the smell started and for how long it lasted and on a scale of one to 10 how bad it was.

"If residents can report this to both myself ([email protected]) and copy to Cllr Pengelly ([email protected]) that would be perfect and together we will continue to monitor the situation and do all we can to improve the quality of their lives."

Representatives from the council recently met with the Environment Agency (EA) to discuss the sickening stench, although air quality tests found there is no risk to public health.

Cllr Caine said the EA said not all smells could be attributed to the landfill - which is due to be full in the next 12 to 18 months - but that the EA has offered to contact landowners and ask when they are spreading in the fields so they can produce a newsletter that they will distribute to the public.

New pipes were due to be operational by the end of February that will burn off more methane and other gases from the Mick George site.

Cllr Caine hopes a meeting with Mick George will take place in the coming weeks and hopes to bring up using a ‘freshener’ in areas of the landfill where there is a particular problem.

She said: "I am very, very pleased that they seem to be taking this seriously now.

"We will never get rid of all of the smells but smells to the point where you cannot leave your windows open without feeling sick are not acceptable."

In January Jon Stump, chief executive officer at the Mick George Group, said: "In recognition of any concerns relating to the emission of odours effecting the Rushton area from our operating facility, we would reiterate that the Mick George Group continue to invest in multiple prevention mechanisms to minimise, if not entirely eliminate, the problem in the future.

"In addition to the existing measures, which include odour suppression systems, increased levels of daily cover, temporary gas extraction system and flares, the imminent installation of an upgraded flare system which offers greater capacity to burn off any excess gas being generated should further improve the situation."