Waste firm sets out plan to stop the Calne Stink
MP Sarah Gibson says the Government response isn't good enough
A Wiltshire MP says the government’s response to a smelly waste site that is sparking hundreds of complaints is “not good enough”.
Her demand for action comes as the Swindon firm that runs the facility published a new strategy to deal with the stink.
Chippenham MP Sarah Gibson took up the cudgel after 1,000 people complained about the pong coming from the Lower Compton landfill site at Calne in just one week.
The smell has been described as “eggy,” “gassy,” “stagnant,” “foul,” and “sulphurous”.
The Environment Agency had previously ordered site operator Hills Waste to ‘cap’ the site to contain landfill gases.
The MP, whose Chippenham constituency includes Calne, quizzed the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), asking what assessment had been made into the cause of the odour, and what steps were being taken to stop it.
Defra responded: “The Environment Agency is aware of persistent odour reports in Calne and continues to treat the issue as a priority.
“Officers from the Environment Agency have been deployed daily to investigate the source and assess any environmental impacts.
“They are conducting odour assessments at the times residents report the smell to be strongest, mainly late at night and early morning.
“These assessments are helping to establish the odour’s intensity and origin and will inform any necessary regulatory action.”
But in a Facebook post over the weekend, the MP said: “The response I received was simply not good enough.
“I will continue to push for proper answers and real action, because the people of Calne deserve far more than empty words.”
Meanwhile, Hills has published the details of its plan to contain odour.
It says it will stop the use of tiny particles of waste, known as trommel fines, to cover rotting rubbish.
Instead, in the short term, the firm will cover the ‘operational cell’ at the site with 10 centimetres of soil.
Additional machinery has been brought onto the site to carry out the task, and work should be completed by the end of April.
It is also using air-atomisers to spray a fine water-based mist with odour molecules to mitigate odour.
In the medium term, the company has brought forward the plan to ‘cap’ with clay areas of the site that have reached their ‘final waste levels’.
Work is expected to start in May 2026 and will continue over the summer.
Finally, in the long term, the design of new cells will be reviewed to allow for more frequent capping, while gas extraction infrastructure will be installed in future cells.
The plan has been approved by the Environment Agency.