FAMILIES in Dunfermline are kicking up a stink as a foul odour from Lochhead landfill continues to plague the town.

Locals have woke up to the stench coming from the site and many are fed-up of “excuse after excuse” from those responsible for addressing the “unbearable” pong.

Kara Stickland, from Parkneuk, has written to local councillors, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and Resource Efficient Solutions (Refsol, Fife Council’s arms-length company which runs the site) about the problem and the impact it is having on her and her family as the summer months approach.

She wrote: “The smell has drifted to the Castings, Parkneuk area within Dunfermline once again and it is unbearable.

“I am writing this from my my bedroom where I don’t even need to go outside to confirm the odour is around as it’s present inside my house – three times this week I have woken to this smell!

“This is not acceptable!

“This is having a significant affect on our health both physically and mentally.

“The headaches it causes and the constant worry of it returning is not healthy, neither is the impact of not wanting to leave the house due to the smell!

“In particular, we are extremely worried that as the weather is improving, it’s natural to want to spend more time outside but how can we do this when the air stinks of methane?!

“I note the plans to fix this work and I appreciate this is not a quick fix, however, I was reassured by a senior member of SEPA staff in December that this problem would be resolved and if you were to have any occurrences of gas leakage it would be a handful of times in a year – not a week,” she continued.

“It seems to me this is excuse after excuse and this needs escalated to ensure adequate investment and a fast-acting programme team is in place to carry out the planned work immediately or the site should be closed.

“I know that my family are not the only ones being impacted by this; something significant needs to be actioned by SEPA, the council and Refsol to resolve this even if that means shutting the site – it cannot continue and I as a resident will not put up with this.”

She concluded: “This is a significant issue across Dunfermline and simply not acceptable to subject residents who pay a significant amount of money on council tax and taxes to ensure that essential sites like this can operate safely and without negative impact on the town.”

Dunfermline North councillor Helen Law asked Robin Baird, chief operating officer of Refsol, for an update on the matter last week.

She believes the patience shown by residents is beginning to run out.

Cllr Law said: “The council have been trying really hard to get this issue resolved but it has taken a long time. The work is very specialised and contractors have had to be brought in from down south. The work is also weather-dependant which has also caused delays, not to mention lockdowns.

“I know the smell has been awful, yet folk have been patient, but their patience has been running out. I am hopeful that the latest bit of work on the site starts to resolve the issues.

“I have tried to keep residents and the community councils in Dunfermline North up to speed with the developments.”

Mr Baird said work to address the pong remains ongoing, explaining: “Work is continuing to develop a new cell on site as quickly as possible. This will allow us to cap existing cells, expand the site and capture the gases that cause the odours.

“With better weather now we’re progressing this as quickly as we can.

SEPA confirmed previously to the Press that they had received reports concerning the site and were investigating with the hope that work would be completed as soon as possible.