Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment his Department has made of the cause of the persistent odour affecting residents in Calne, Wiltshire.

The Environment Agency (EA) has received a significant number of reports of odour in the Calne area throughout April. EA officers have attended and substantiated odour, believed to be landfill gas from regulated activity in Compton Bassett.

While landfill activity will on occasion give rise to a level of odour, the odour substantiated by the EA indicates an unacceptable level of pollution and the EA is actively investigating potential sources.

As part of their investigations, the EA has carried out surface emission surveys to detect landfill gas at two landfill sites in Compton Bassett. These inspections have highlighted several points on the site infrastructure at Lower Compton Landfill where improvements are required to reduce emissions of landfill gas; the EA has required the operator to make these improvements. While these works will reduce the level of odour from this site, it is unlikely that in isolation the issues identified are the sole cause of the recent complaints. The EA is considering multiple potential sources.

Further inspections of both regulated landfill sites are planned, to confirm the improvements required at Lower Compton Landfill have been completed and to continue investigations into other potential sources.