Town v country smell-off: Is Atherstone 'kicking up a stink' for North Warwickshire?

BOROUGH IN TOP THIRD FOR UK WHIFFIEST LOCATIONS, ACCORDING TO FIVE-YEAR ANALYSIS OF 335 LOCAL AUTHORITIES BY HOME FRAGRANCE EXPERTS

COMPLAINTS BY LOCAL PEOPLE THROW UP MOST COMMON BAD ODOUR AS INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL

ATHERSTONE may be leading North Warwickshire by the nose to an unwanted reputation for being a smellier place.

The area finds itself in the top third of country's whiffiest locations, a new 'stink map' reveals.

Freedom of Information responses have lifted the lid on the pongs people most often complain about.

And the most common smell complaint emanating from the borough – which would probably classed as a rural environment – is an "industrial/commercial odour", according to home fragrance experts at Lifestyle Packaging in their research.

This could suggest a 'town v country' debate as to what is causing the most prevalent of complaints which have been extracted from the analysis of gripes to the council over the last five years.

Rich Quelch, global head of marketing at the e-liquid, home and personal fragrance, body and skincare distributors, says the figures relate to the period 2015-19 – with 335 councils taking part.

Atherstone and North Warwickshire residents registered a relatively consistent number of smell complaints in the timeframe – ranging from 16 to 46 – and finishing with a total of 157 which put the borough in 104th place overall.

The complaints per capita add up to 242, which represents one complaint for every 413 residents of its 64,850 population.

The lowest number of complaints was made by people in Barking and Dagenham – amazingly with none. Top-of-the-pile Bassetlaw's 116,839 population "caused a stink" about a smell on no fewer than 1,874 occasions – representing 1,604 complaints per capita at a rate of one for every 62 residents.

City of London finished second place with 1,344 complaints, while Atherstone's near neighbours of North West Leicestershire surprisingly came in third with 977 complaints – all categorised as "general" with non-specific moans about smells. The rate of complaint was one every 102 residents for its 102,126 population.

Coventry – which smells worse than the West Midlands capital of Birmingham – came 39th in the league table. Its 1,389 complaints equated to one every 264 residents from a population of 366,785. Nuneaton and Bedworth did not register a total.

Mr Quelch, who made FoI requests to find out about the figures from each local authority ,said: "It's really interesting to see where residents complain the most about bad smells and the range of complaints councils receive every year.

"From children being sick on a school bus, a strong smell of cabbage, to a neighbour's pizza oven – the list of unusual smell complaints is endless.

"While Brits are most likely to lodge a complaint against their neighbour, it seems they also can't stand agricultural odours and bonfires. So, living rurally doesn't always mean fresher air!"

In five years, UK councils received a staggering 116,789 nuisance smell complaints which is one for every 500 people.

Councils often send out human "sniffers" to assess smell complaints and ask local residents to keep "smell diaries", recording their perception of the smell and the effect it has on them.

Local authorities can also issue an abatement notice to the person responsible, demanding they take steps to stop the smell nuisance. Failure to comply with an abatement notice can lead to a maximum fine of £40,000.

According to the UK government, a bad odour is deemed a "statutory nuisance" if it interferes with the use or enjoyment of a home or other premise, or if it injures health.

Bad smells are also the third biggest turn-off for homebuyers, behind damp and the property being in a poor state of repair.

Footnote: The good news is, the Government is clamping down on the practice of muck spreading on farms as part of its Environment Bill 2020 to improve the nation's air quality. Animal manure is a key source of ammonia, a powerful pollutant that can lodge deep in the lungs, harming residents' health.