Fleetwood MP joins residents in landfill protest

Tuesday, 30 July 2024 16:33

By Richard Hunt - LDRS

Fleetwood’s new MP Lorraine Beavers has joined placard-waving protesters outside a landfill site which has caused ongoing odour issues for long-suffering residents.

The protesters gathered outside the Fleetwood site on Saturday and have vowed to continue until the issue is dealt with.

For much of this year the landfill site off Jameson Road, which is run by Transwaste Ltd, has been the subject of complaints over vile smell emissions which have been likened to rotten eggs or rotten onions.

Some residents say the chemical emissions have made them feel ill, with complaints of headaches, nose bleeds and breathing difficulties.

The Environment Agency has given Transwaste two deadlines by which time work needed to stop the emissions should have been completed, the latest one being July 19.

The agency, which is a government body, has also ordered that no more waste is accepted at the site until the problem has been fully dealt with.

However, residents are still complaining about the smell even though the deadlines have come and gone.

Jess Brown, one of the campaigners, said: “The smell is there, just as bad as ever.

“We will continue to protest outside the site every month, until this problem is sorted out.

“It is not acceptable and it has to be dealt with.”

Mrs Beavers, the Labour MP for Blackpool North and Fleetwood, is still a borough councillor for Fleetwood on Wyre Council, and a county councillor.

She has vowed to raise the issue of Fleetwood’s landfill site with Steve Reed, the new Labour Government’s environment minister.

Wyre councillor Cheryl Raynor who is also chairman of Fleetwood Town Council, says the stench has affected her personally because she suffers from asthma.

She said: “Last week it was unbearable and I could hardly breathe.

“When the smell is bad, you can’t go in the garden and you don’t want to open your windows, even though the weather is warm.

“It is impacting on everybody and it just has to stop.”

Coun Raynor said she too had written to Steven Reed and hoped the minister would agree to a meeting to discuss the problem.

Transwaste was approached for a comment.