Bassetlaw Council pooh-poohs ‘second-smelliest’ UK district claims

The council has pooh-poohed a study which names Bassetlaw as the second-smelliest district in the UK.
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Describing Bassetlaw as a ‘beautiful district’ the council said it was “a shame that ‘research’ like this tries to do it down”.

Lifestyle Packaging - the company behind the statistics - claim the council received 1,604 nuisance smell complaints per 100,000 people (per capita) over the last five years - or one complaint for every 62 residents.

The analysis was drawn from a sample of 336 UK district councils across a five-year period - 2015-2019.

Describing Bassetlaw as a ‘beautiful district’ the council said it was “a shame that ‘research’ like this tries to do it down”Describing Bassetlaw as a ‘beautiful district’ the council said it was “a shame that ‘research’ like this tries to do it down”
Describing Bassetlaw as a ‘beautiful district’ the council said it was “a shame that ‘research’ like this tries to do it down”

Lifestyle Packaging say Bassetlaw residents’ odour grief came from ‘commercial premises’ in Worksop and Bassetlaw.

However responding to the fishy findings, Bassetlaw Councillor Julie Leigh, member for neighbourhoods, said the ‘majority of complaints’ were in relation to two industrial premises - located in predominately rural areas.

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She added that the council’s own analysis showed ‘less than 0.65 per cent’ of residents had complained about smells in Bassetlaw ‘in any of the last five years’.

Bassetlaw has been named the UK's second-smelliest districtBassetlaw has been named the UK's second-smelliest district
Bassetlaw has been named the UK's second-smelliest district

She said: “Bassetlaw is a beautiful district and it’s a shame that ‘research’ like this tries to do it down.

“We have undertaken a great deal of work with the owner of the (industrial) site we have responsibility for regulating to implement measures to minimise odour.

“This work is ongoing and will be completed by the end of the year.”

Lifestyle say the prize for the UK’s smelliest place was awarded to Cotswold District Council - with 2,996 nuisance smell complaints per capita in five years or one smell complaint for every 33 residents.

Most complaints there related to bad smells coming from commercial premises such as restaurants and pubs as well as muck spreading.

To see an interactive map of the findings click HERE.

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