Protesters were out in force in front of County Hall Haverfordwest ahead of a meeting of full council where Withyhedge Landfill Site was high on the agenda.

Pembrokeshire residents have been affected by odours and gasses coming from the landfill site since October last year.

The company that runs the site RML were given until early April to carry out work to stop landfill gas polluting surrounding villages.

Although it appears that the work specified has been carried out the gas and odours from the site continue.

Natural Resources Wales (NRW) issued site operator Resources Management UK Ltd (RML) with a further Regulation 36 Enforcement Notice on Thursday, April 18 detailing more remedial work that must be completed by May 14.

In the interim Pembrokeshire County Council has sought legal advice regarding potential proceedings against the operators of the Withyhedge Landfill, RML.

The council plans to request an injunction from the court requiring RML to alleviate the public nuisance odour from the landfill site.

Breach of this injunction would constitute contempt of court, punishable by up to two years in prison and an unlimited fine.

Councillors attending today’s meeting of full council were asked to note and support these motions.

The council also faced a raft of questions submitted by the public concerning the landfill site.

Residents have suffered from a variety of respiratory conditions since the gas from the site started to pollute its environs.

“Our health is our main concern,” said campaigner Colin Barnett. “Nobody’s talked to us about the levels of toxins in the air that we breathe. Nobody’s talked to us about what gasses are coming out.

“It certainly affects your breathing if you’ve got asthma problems, it gives you sore eyes, it makes you nauseous when you walk or drive through it.It’s even affected some people’s skin.”

Colin added that residents were experiencing ‘mental anguish’ from having the gasses invade their houses regardless of what they did.

“You can’t use your gardens, lovely days like this you can’t enjoy the property that you have invested money in and it devalues your home.”

Colin said that the Stop the Stink protest group hoped that the meeting of full council would support the abatement notice so that if RML didn’t take appropriate action they could end up in court.

“This abatement notice won’t stop it but it will put pressure on the company to act to respond to have to stop the odour or they could go to court and that’s really positive,” he said.