UK seaside town with ‘rotten eggs smell’ so bad people get nosebleeds | UK | News

Residents of a seaside town described headaches, nosebleeds and even hospitalizations due to a nearby landfill. Locals in the popular Lancashire seaside town of Fleetwood have spoken of how fed up they are with the smell and smoke from the landfill located less than 100 meters from some homes. The Jameson Road landfill has faced 72 permit violations since Transwaste Recycling and Aggregates reopened it in 2023. It was previously closed in 2017.

Local campaigners told the Daily Mail about the stench putting off day-trippers to the seaside town. The town of Fleetwood has a number of major tourist attractions, including its beach and Russell Point Lookout Tower, as well as fish and chip shops and pubs, which bring many people here to spend time by the sea. But locals say the smell causes visitors to turn on their heels and go elsewhere. The Environment Agency says the odor poses no health risk, although local residents have objected to it.

Local campaigner Allison Rowe, 65, told the Mail: “I feel nauseous every day. It gives me headaches, eye pain and a hangover feeling.” “People come here for day trips, step out of their car, smell it, and turn around. It smells all day long, and we’ve been living with it for 24 months.”

There have been protests since then and campaigners have demanded the site be shut down completely. Rowe said he believes the bad smell triggered his asthma and was diagnosed with COPD two years ago.

He said: “Kids in this town go to school feeling sick, crying, with nosebleeds. I didn’t have asthma or COPD until two years ago and now I’ve been diagnosed.”

Another local, Richard Falcon, 54, said he had been hospitalized twice because of fumes from the landfill.

North Blackpool and Fleetwood MP Lorrain Beavers said local residents were concerned as they faced a third summer with the smells coming from the area. “We are a resort town,” he defended.

“People move to our area because they want to breathe clean air. If I went on vacation and had to put up with that smell, I wouldn’t come back.”

The Environment Agency has now issued an enforcement notice requiring operators to fill the landfill. Mercury Group, Transwaste’s parent company, said levels remained within World Health Organization safety limits based on independent air quality monitoring.

A Wyre Borough Council spokesman said: “We fully understand how distressing this situation is for residents and we take their concerns very seriously.

“We work closely with the community to listen to their experiences and gather evidence to support a potential legal hardship case.

“We understand that citizens want to keep the windows open, especially in hot weather.

“To help build a robust body of evidence that meets the legal standards required to be presented in court, we continue to encourage residents to record incidents of unpleasant odors on their properties by completing daily forms and agreeing to officer verification visits for at least seven consecutive days, both of which remain important parts of the process under the legislative powers we have.”