Information on Jameson Road Landfill Site, Fleetwood, Lancashire

Overview

We have created this page to provide easy access to information on Jameson Road Landfill Site, Fleetwood, Lancashire.

We are continuing to recieve complaints and reports of odour regarding the Jameson Road Landfill Site. We are encouraging residents in the community to continue to report the issue as this helps us to build up a picture of the extent and impact of the odour issue.  

We will keep the community up to date with any developments on our response to the increased reports and will share any new updates here. Please check back regularly for further information - this page was last updated on 1 November

Community updates:

Latest update: Update - 1 November 2024

Previous Updates:

Useful documents:

Compliance Assessment Reports (CAR):

We have been asked by members of the public for copies of our Compliance Assessment Reports for the site. We promised to provide them as soon as we were able to, given the site remains under a live investigation.

Please find below the inspection reports from February 2024 – May 2024. As the regulation and investigation are still current, we may not be in a position to answer direct questions about the content of the reports. 

We have not yet made available the inspection reports for June 2024 and July 2024 as these relate to the period of the suspension notice and release of this information at this stage may be prejudicial to any outcomes. 

Please note that names of officers have been removed from these documents as disclosure would breach the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA).

Why is this happening?

Late last year the Jameson Road landfill site was taken over by Transwaste Recycling & Aggregates Limited. The site holds an environmental permit to accept non-hazardous waste for disposal and it is regulated by the Environment Agency.

When a landfill site has been covered for some time, the waste starts to breakdown and generate landfill gas. When a site re-opens there is increased risk of odour and emissions due to older waste still being present.

The Jameson Road site has been inactive for a long period of time, and as the landfill activity on site has restarted, some of the older waste has been exposed which is leading to odours.

The Environment Agency is the primary regulator of the waste activities under the Environmental Permitting (England & Wales) Regulations. 

What is the Environment Agency doing?

We are conducting frequent site inspections, drone flights and daily odour assessment to monitor activity and make sure that Transwaste meet the requirements of the permit and manage the risk from odour.   

The suspension notice at Jameson Road was lifted on 19 August 2024. We have taken this decision as we have assessed that all the conditions within the notice have been met. The purpose of the notice was to require the operator to undertake works on a specific area of the site that was believed to be producing the off-site odour which was impacting the community. This work has now been completed by the operator to a satisfactory standard.

The operator, Transwaste, is now able to accept all waste types outlined in the permit.

We continue to monitor and perform our regulatory duties at The Jameson Road Landfill site in Fleetwood. As outlined in detail in our previous updates, below is a brief timeline of the actions* we have taken to date:

*Please note that due to legal reasons we are unable to provide all the details of the visits and our findings at present but will as soon as we are able.

Air Quality Monitoring

Hydrogen Sulphide (H2S) Monitoring

As part of the odour assessments carried out by officers, we are carrying out  Hydrogen Sulphide (H2S) monitoring by using a handheld meter which takes instant readings of the air and is measured in Parts Per Million (PPM).

Our officers identify plumes of malodorous air based on wind direction, reports to our incident hotline, and from our own odour assessments. We then walk through the plume taking several measurements. The maps below show the date and location of where some of the monitoring was recently undertaken:

The results show levels of Hydrogen Sulphide above normal background levels that are above the level of detection to the human nose but are low. They are also transient.

The highest result recorded to date from the portable Hydrogen Sulphide monitoring was 0.015 ppm on 2 August 2024 at 01:20 - 03:00 hours at the Nature Reserve. The majority of results obtained have been between 0.003ppm and 0.004ppm. These results have been shared with multi agency partners including the UK Health and Security Agency (UKHSA) who have provided guidance from a health perspective.

We are advised that the results do not change the health advice previously given. The current health advice from the UKHSA can be found below.

We are continuing to share the results with health experts at UKHSA and Wyre Borough Council and will also continue to publish the results here.

Odour at Night

We are aware from speaking to residents that there are concerns around odours being higher at night. This coincides with the natural pattern of Hydrogen Sulphide gas, this is more noticeable at night when winds are calmer, allowing the gas to linger.

Additionally, heavy rainfall can lead to increased hydrogen sulphide levels, although the stronger odours may not be noticeable for several days or weeks. A helpful video was produced to explain this for another problem site we have dealt with in the past and may help residents to understand this process.

 

If the above video is not displaying on your browser, you can view it here: How weather affects landfill sites. - YouTube

Multi-Agency Working

We are working with partners, Wyre Borough Council, Lancashire County Council and UK Health Security Agency. Each organisation has a different role in providing advice or regulating under specific legislation Jameson Road.

• Environment Agency - We are the primary regulator of the Jameson Road (Phase 2) Landfill Site. This is done under the Environmental Permitting (England & Wales) Regulations. The site is operated by Transwaste Recycling and Aggregate Limited who hold the Environmental Permit for the site. The most appropriate way to deal with the current issues on the site is through that permit. 
• Wyre Borough Council - Wyre BC have a duty for monitoring under statutory nuisance legislation. See below statement from Wyre BC.
• Lancashire County Council - Have a dual role in planning control and public health guidance.
• UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) - Provides the government and the public with health information based on evidence and information available. UKHSA have provided the latest health advice in relation to Jameson Road Landfill, please see below.

Wyre Borough Council Statement

The primary legislation for controlling odour from landfill sites is enforced by the Environment Agency. However, Wyre Council also have a duty to investigate statutory nuisance complaints. Statutory nuisance complaints occur when a nuisance prevents an individual from enjoying their property and unwanted odours can cause a statutory nuisance.  In order to investigate, Wyre Council must obtain evidence of how often the odour occurs, how long it continues for and the impact it is having on the complainant at their home. It is therefore important for people to keep diary records as evidence, which Wyre officers can corroborate if they are able to carry out home visits to assess the odour at their homes.

A landfill site will always produce some type of odours, even when using the best preventative technology, and this is a legal defence in any statutory nuisance case. Wyre Council must therefore also satisfy themselves that the landfill site operatives are working towards getting these under control as quickly as possible using best available techniques.

In the case of Jameson Road, we are working as a multi-agency team identifying possible sources and then agreeing and implementing stringent measures to reduce odours from this site as quickly as possible.

Permit Compliance

The site at Jameson Road in Fleetwood holds an environmental permit to accept non-hazardous waste for disposal and it is regulated by the Environment Agency. The environmental permit has conditions that Transwaste is required to follow to minimise impact to the people and the environment.

This includes managing the operations on site to control odour. Handling waste material does inevitably involve dealing with odorous material and may lead to occasional periods of odour; however these should not have a prolonged effect on local residents of Fleetwood and surrounding areas.

Assessing Compliance

It is our role to assess compliance with the permits and to take appropriate regulatory action if we identify any breaches. We do so by reference to our enforcement and sanctions policy and the Government’s core guidance on environmental permitting and with appropriate regard to the Regulators' Code.

Health advice from UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA)

What can I smell?

The odour pollution from landfill sites falls into two broad categories:

1. The first is the waste odour. This is caused by fresh waste rapidly decomposing and tends to come from vehicles travelling to and from the site and whilst it is tipped. This is similar to the odours that are contained within a domestic bin. It poses little risk to human health and can be tackled by depositing the waste quickly and covering it with soils called “daily cover”.
2. The second type of odour is landfill gas. This is gas generated by the breakdown of the waste inside the body of the landfill site. Landfill gas is mostly methane and carbon dioxide, which are odourless and colourless. However, landfill gas also contains trace components such as hydrogen sulphide that, even in very small quantities, has a strong smell of rotten eggs, which the human body is very sensitive to. Although the smell caused by the trace levels of hydrogen sulphide gas can be strong and unpleasant, it does not automatically mean that it is harmful. Our sense of smell is very sensitive and we can smell hydrogen sulphide at very low levels.

We are aware of symptoms reported within the community. These include reports of strong odours and transient health effects, such as eye and respiratory irritation. The human nose is very sensitive. Strong odours are unpleasant and can impact on wellbeing, leading to stress and anxiety. Some people may experience physical symptoms, such as nausea, headaches or dizziness, as a reaction to strong odours, even when the substances that cause those odours are not at concentrations that are directly harmful to health.

Are the smells causing or going to cause health effects?

The human nose is very sensitive. Many things have a strong smell at levels at which there are no direct harmful effects to health. However, strong smells are unpleasant and can impact on wellbeing leading to stress and anxiety. Some people may also experience symptoms, such as nausea, headaches or dizziness, as a reaction to strong smells, even when the substances that cause those smells are themselves not harmful to health. Following exposure to any substance, the adverse health effects depend on several factors, including the amount to which you are exposed (dose), the way in which you are exposed, the duration of exposure, the form of the chemical and if you were exposed to any other chemicals. The first noticeable effect of hydrogen sulphide at very low concentrations is its unpleasant odour, which may cause discomfort and some short-term health effects (as described in the paragraph above). At higher concentrations, it may cause eye, nose and throat irritation. It may also disturb sleep if experienced at night at low levels.

What should I do if I am concerned about my symptoms?

If you are concerned about your symptoms, contact your GP or call NHS 111.

What can I do to reduce my risk?

Individuals can close doors and windows whilst the smell is present and then open them to vent the smell from the premises when the smell has cleared.

What symptoms may I experience as a result of odour?

Short-term transient health effects may be experienced such as irritation to the eyes, nose and throat. People who have health conditions that affect breathing, such as asthma, may experience increased frequency and/or severity of symptoms. With continuing exposure, these effects may be prolonged but are not anticipated to continue long-term once exposure is reduced.

What can I do to reduce symptoms caused by odour?

To limit the effects of the odour as much as possible, we would advise:

• Close windows if there is an outdoor odour and open them once any outdoor odour has reduced.You could consider closing windows at night and opening them in the morning in the absence of odour.
• Ventilate your property when there is no odour outdoors.

Contact NHS 111 or your GP if you have concerns about your individual circumstances and require health advice.

What is being done to understand the potential health impact of the odour on local residents, and how long will this take?

In the case of individual sites, the Environment Agency carefully monitors the performance of a landfill site using a wide range of parameters including groundwater, surface water and air monitoring, pollution reports, the operator’s own monitoring and even aerial photography. We use all these parameters to determine the performance of the site and if we have concerns, we require the operator of the site to take steps to resolve them, promptly. If the operator of the permitted site does not respond to our concerns, we can carry out our own check monitoring and use a range of enforcement notices to force the operator of the site to take action

Reporting Odour

Many thanks to people who have taken the time to report the odour. We encourage residents to continue to report incidents to our hotline on:

0800 80 70 60