Residents living near a Lake District beauty spot say their 'lives have been taken over' by the disgusting stench of a nearby landfill. For almost three decades, the publicly-funded Flusco Landfill had been little more than a minor nuisance for those living in the quaint village of Newbiggin, Cumbria. But last summer the site was taken over by the private waste management firm Seletia in a deal worth millions, and one which has made the lives of villagers 'utterly unbearable'.
Locals have told the Daily Mail they now live in the shadows of a huge mound of waste emitting a 'rotten egg' stench so potent they feel trapped in their homes. Gazing up at the landfill from her back garden, Annabelle Harrington fumed: 'It affects me every day. If it's not them operating out of hours and waking me up at 4am, it's the long line of wagons outside, or it's the disgusting smell rotting my home. Last summer you'd have thought I had a dead body inside the amount of flies I had. I've never experienced anything like it, it was like a carpet of bugs on my ceiling. It's always lingering in the air, the smell, but there are some days when it is absolutely vile. I bought this house knowing that I'd be living next door to a landfill. But it was never like this - it's taking over my life.'
Residents say they were never consulted by Westmorland and Furness Council or Cumberland Council over their decision to sell the site, initially, to Cumbria Waste Management before it came under the ownership of Seletia last summer. Problems began to arise within weeks of the private company taking over operations. Convoys of HGVs - sometimes dozens every day - rolled into the formerly quiet village, home to just 2,000 people, transporting waste believed to be from Scotland. The noise of machine work at the site last summer was described as 'horrendous'.
Intervention by Environment Agency
Eventually the pile of waste at Flusco stacked up so high that the Environment Agency (EA) was left with little choice but to intervene in October 2025. An enforcement notice was issued to Seletia alleging several breaches before the council issued a Temporary Stop Notice ordering the company to stop depositing waste. Later, in an Enforcement Notice of its own issued in December, the EA ordered Seletia to remove the mountain of rubbish by April 22. Seletia however appealed on the grounds that the body's requirements were 'unreasonable'. The company has now been suspended from depositing waste at the site, the EA confirmed, with a hearing into the firm's appeal taking place this week.
But locals have accused the operator of failing to dispose of the mound of waste by last month's deadline, meaning their Newbiggin nightmare will drag on into the summer. Retired Steven Houltram, 66, said Seletia is profiting from residents' misery by 'ignoring every permit there is'. He fumed: 'Within days of the site being sold off we heard a horrendous racket. We weren't even aware that the sale had taken place. Then, all of a sudden there's lots of disgusting and horrible smells and the height of the site is tens and tens of feet above the permitted level. I live about a quarter of a mile away and we are now getting a daily stink. I can smell it in the house, in the bedroom when I'm sleeping at night. There is no escape from it. It's horrendous. Seletia have basically broken every permit that there is. You name it, they've done it. So why is this allowed to continue?'
Health and Environmental Concerns
The smell wafting over Newbiggin is a combination of carbon dioxide, methane and hydrogen sulphide, a gas which 'even in small quantities' is likened to 'rotten eggs'. But documents also reveal that leachate - a substance which can cause cancer - is leaking from the site, sparking concern about residents' health. Mr Houltram continued: 'We know for a fact after seeing reports that leachate is coming from the site and it's not being treated as it should be. That's a cancerous substance and it's getting into the groundwater and the water systems. We are very, very angry but also concerned about what this stuff's doing to our health. I am literally standing outside now in my garden, where not so long ago I had two of my grandsons, and I looked up and saw wagons churning God knows what into the air. It's only getting worse.'
Images shared with the Mail show that rivers running adjacent to the landfill have become dark and murky. Residents also say that a formerly scenic footpath has been almost totally torn up by workers. Ms Harrington, whose frustration was palpable, said she has also been left fearing for wildlife. 'We've got roe deer, birds that are on the red conservation list. These are protected species,' she noted. 'I went for a walk with my friend the other night and saw foxes and owls. We've got this wonderful ecosystem and there's leachate leaking from every side of that landfill. We don't think the leachate management has worked since November last year. It's absolutely disgusting.'
Political and Regulatory Response
Former Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron, MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale, said locals have turned to him in a bid to bring about change. Speaking to the Mail, Mr Farron described the landfill as a 'threat to public health' and accused the current operators of 'pretending the rules don't apply to them'. He said: 'This is massively damaging people's quality of life. You can't hand your washing out because it will stink afterwards. You wouldn't let your children play out with that smell, it's disgusting. I've alerted the Health and Safety Executive and the local Director of Health. It's not just an environmental nuisance, but we have reason to believe it's a threat to public health. People shouldn't have to live like this. It is understood that some of the waste has come from Scotland but, wherever it's from, it's a poorly managed site where the consequences have been an increase in the strength persistence of odours over the last 18 months. These sites need regulation and, until recently, the site operators respected those regulations. The current owners plainly do not. They're pretending the rules don't apply to them.'
A spokesperson for the EA said: 'Nobody should have to tolerate unacceptable odours, and we took decisive action to suspend all waste acceptance at this site. We continue to carry out regular inspections and odour surveys to monitor the impact on local residents. We will not hesitate to take further action if necessary to protect this community and the environment.' Seletia Limited and Westmorland and Furness Council were approached for comment.
