Cause of Westbury Whiff revealed by Environment Agency

Odour officers have been on pong patrol <i>(Image: Environment Agency)</i>
Odour officers have been on pong patrol (Image: Environment Agency)
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A faulty filter has been blamed for a bad smell in a Wiltshire town.

During the May heatwave, residents of Westbury reported a recurrence of the Westbury Whiff - a bad smell that has periodically plagued the town since 2014.

Government odour officers quickly traced the smell back to the Northacre Mechanical Biological Treatment plant on Stephenson Road, which is run by Hills Waste Solutions.



Waste at the site is turned into solid recovered fuel, which can then be used by renewable energy plants to generate power.

This week, the Environment Agency issued an update to residents whose noses were troubled by the pong.

It said a sensor that detects odour-causing gases in the site's biofilter system had broken.

Operator Hills, replaced the faulty sensor and installed a backup system to help prevent this happening again.

"These actions are expected to improve airflow and reduce odour over the next few days," said an Environment Agency spokesperson.

They added: "We continue to visit the site regularly to ensure measures are being taken to minimise off-site odour and we are maintaining increased odour monitoring to make sure that odour levels return to an acceptable level as soon as possible.

"If needed, we will take further action to ensure the site operates in line with its permit conditions."

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