Beavers added: “It is like a merry-go-round – the EA come and it gets cleaned up and three to six weeks later it is back.
“It has never been as bad – at the weekend they had more then 800 complaints.”
Dave McPartlin, head teacher of nearby Flakefleet Primary, said: “It has been that bad that the kids haven’t wanted to play out at playtime.”
“We’ve had this month after month year after year – it wouldn’t happen in the wealthy commuter belt in Surrey [for example].
He said it felt an affront to “our proud working class town”.
Since January 2024, the site has faced complaints for years, with some residents claiming it has affected their health.
EA said there were five initial complaints in that first month but it had grown to a total of 20,139 to date.
Last year, the EA had 10,665 complaints and this year the figure is 5,480 which includes a spike of 3,972 for March up to Tuesday, according to the FOI data.
An EA spokesperson said: “The community should not have to tolerate odours that affect their environment.
“We have pushed the operator to cover areas of the site where waste has recently been deposited to reduce odour and are pressing them to install permanent capping as soon as possible to prevent future emissions.
“Environment Agency officers are on the ground actively monitoring the situation, and if we don’t see improvements, we will not hesitate to take further enforcement action.”
