SWEET smells may be at hand for residents in North Swindon who have complained about an intermittent unpleasant pong in the area in the past few months.

Work is being carried out at the Chapel Farm waste site which is hoped will put an end to the problem.

The odour, described as a cross between rotting rubbish and methane gas, has been reported across a wide area, including Redhouse and Ash Brake. Councillors in the area have been working to get to the bottom of the problem, alongside Swindon Council and the Environment Agency.

The most likely source was believed to be the landfill site off the A419. Last month local councillors visited the site and now its operator Hills has written to the councillors.

Landfill operations manager Simon Allen said: “Permanent gas wells are routinely installed once a waste cell has been filled and capped with clay. In addition to these permanent wells, horizontal sacrificial pipework is also installed within an operational cell to extract any landfill gas that may be generated prior to final capping and permanent gas well installation.

“In response to complaints received earlier in the year to Hills and the Environment Agency, routine maintenance works were and undertaken earlier than they would normally occur.

“In recent weeks complaints have been received from locations between one and three kilometres away from the Chapel Farm site boundary.

“On this basis it is extremely unlikely that any gas that may have left site would be at significantly high enough concentrations to be detected.

“The company continues to actively monitor the situation with respect to potential odours from the Chapel Farm landfill site and to liaise with the Environment Agency.”