'Nauseating' whiff plagues town as heatwave hits

Dozens of people have complained about a persistent smell that has left some feeling nauseous.

The odour - dubbed the Westbury whiff - has been traced to the Northacre Mechanical Biological Treatment plant on Stephenson Road, which is run by Hills Waste Solution (HWS) in Westbury, Wiltshire.

Carole King, the town's mayor, said the smell has returned at the worst time, with people wanting to open their windows as temperatures peaked at 30C (86F) on bank holiday Monday.

The Environment Agency (EA) said HWS was required to "make improvements to odour control measures", while the operator said it continued to "work with the EA to ensure odour issues were minimised".

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the smell from the site, which turns waste into solid recovered fuel that can then be used by renewable energy plants to generate power, dates back to at least 2014.

Since March 2026, King said there had been a fresh bout of growing complaints from residents about "how nauseous the smell is".

"It's upsetting for them because during hot weather you want to open your windows, your doors, you want to be outside in your garden, go for a walk," she said.

King said she encouraged "everybody to complain".

She said the smell grows worse when the Hill's site's large doors are opened to let lorries in.

In 2021, the EA received more than 500 complaints in six months about the Hills plant.

By September 2025, the EA said Hills was "not taking all appropriate measures to reduce odour and remained in breach of its permit conditions".

At the time, Hills responded that it had "upgraded the site's bio-filter and installed additional extraction equipment".

The EA said in a statement: "Our officers have been undertaking additional odour-rounds in response to reports.

"Odours in residential areas have typically been very faint/faint and transient in nature and dependent on the weather conditions."

About 20 miles (32 km) away, people living in another Wiltshire town have complained about an unpleasant odour that is making them unwell.

The smell, which residents have said is similar to rotting eggs, is being caused by a landfill site that is also run by Hills.

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