Campaigners against Fleetwood landfill site to take protest into Wyre Council chamber

Protesters against the Fleetwood landfill site at the centre of noxious emissions across the area are to hold another demonstration – in the chamber of Wyre Council.

Campaigners say Wyre isn’t doing enough to protect people from the effects of the chemical emission, which also carries a vile stink of rotten eggs.

They say the problem at the Jameson Road landfill site should be classed as a public health issue and they want the council to use its powers to close it down.

To hammer home the point, the protesters will make their point in the public gallery of Wyre Council tomorrow night (Thursday April 10) when it holds its full council meeting from 7pm onwards.

It comes as the Environment Agency (EA) today ended its suspension order on the site, which means operators Transwaste are able to begin receiving truckloads of waste again. EA says this is because Transwaste has met the conditions of the suspension notice.

EA also says it has continued to receive complaints about odours from this site – 3,221 in March and 1,125 in February compared to 270 in January and 21 in December.

The campaigners are furious and say enough is enough.

Jess Brown, of the campaign group, said: “We have had enough of this. We have had protests and meetings for the past 12 months, and nothing is being done because it is still happening.

“Today, the Environment Agency has confirmed they have ended their suspension notice and Transwaste are back to accepting lorry loads of waste again.

“The emissions are continuing, people are having to put up with the smell – but even worse, it is making people ill and is a public health issue.

“So we are taking our protest right to the heart of Wyre Council tomorrow and are calling on them to actually do something.”

Wyre Council was approached for a comment.

John Neville, area environment manager at the Environment Agency, said today: “Transwaste has met the conditions listed in the suspension notice served on March 26 2025 and therefore it has been lifted.

“We expect the situation to improve as the gas extraction is increased over the coming days.

“We want to reassure the community that we will maintain our increased regulatory response to this site. This includes daily odour checks and regular site inspections.

“If activity at the site causes odours which continue to affect local residents we will not hesitate to take further enforcement action.”

Transwaste says: “Since acquiring the site, Transwaste has undertaken over £2m worth of work to bring the site up to the latest standards and to install gas capture infrastructure.

“This essential work initially meant disturbing the old waste in Cell 5 which caused an initial odour problem. Work in Cell 5 has now been completed and it has fully functioning gas capture infrastructure in place.

“Cell 6 has now been constructed to the latest standards and had gas capture infrastructure installed in order to proactively prevent any future odour problems.”

The Environment Agency’s hotline to complain about the smell is 0800 80 70 60.