It’s deadline day today, Friday April 5, for Pembrokeshire’s controversial Withyhedge landfill site to comply with Natural Resources Wales legal calls to stop its ‘stink’.

Residents who have been campaigning for months for action to be taken against the odours from the site to the north of Haverfordwest, say the pong is like ‘a stink bomb on steroids’.

The site is operated by Withyhedge Landfill (Resources Management Ltd) (RML) and has permission to deposit 250,000 tonnes of waste a year.

'Sort out the odours'

In February, Natural Resources Wales (NRW) issued an enforcement notice on RML, giving them until today to sort out the odours from the site.

Following a protest outside County Hall by 'Stop the Stink' campaigners  last month, a spokesperson for RML told the Western Telegraph last month that the company is fully committed to delivering the agreed work to stop the odours before the April 5 deadline.

'Very good progress'

“RML is currently working to resolve the odour issue as quickly possible and is making very good progress,” they said.

However, complaints about the smells from the site have escalated in recent days.

The enforcement notice issued by NRW required RML to complete a number of actions in response to identified permit non-compliances which were linked to fugitive landfill gas emissions and offsite odours.

A spokesperson for NRW said: “In recent weeks we have visited Withyhedge Landfill on a number of occasions to check progression with actions in the Notice, and to ensure that this work has not created other problems.

Western Telegraph: “By close of play on 5 April 2024, the operator is required to have completed preparatory work, capping, and gas infrastructure installation on a previously uncapped waste mass. The work set out in the Notice has the purpose of containing and collecting landfill gas being produced in this area."

Site visit on Monday

Next Monday, April 8, NRW will be visiting the site to see if compliance has been reached and to inspect the area.

The authority will then consider the findings internally, and discuss them with Pembrokeshire County Council and Public Health Wales at a multi-agency meeting on Wednesday April 10, before publishing an update.

The spokesperson continued: "As the onsite work progressed, we had anticipated that fugitive emissions would decrease and therefore odour reports would also subside. However, in recent weeks we have seen high volumes of reports and NRW officers have confirmed offsite odours from the landfill on occasions.

'High number of calls'

"Following a high number of calls on Tuesday April 2, NRW officers attended the landfill and conducted an offsite odour assessment in surrounding communities. While landfill gas was detected at one location, the predominant odours detected at that time were agricultural.

"However, in light of continuing concerns from the community, and the possibility that our assessment didn’t coincide with the period of strongest odours, we will undertake further odour assessments over the coming days."

They concluded: "We will continue with a regulatory presence at the site linked with our priority of ensuring that the site is being operated and managed in compliance with the permit, especially in relation to emission control.

"Any enforcement action necessary will be taken in line with our Enforcement and Sanctions Policy."