Drones deployed to seek out town's 'eggy' smell

Work is under way to rid a town of an "eggy" smell which has been traced to a nearby landfill site.

The smell has been affecting residents in Calne, Wiltshire, for more than a year with reports of it causing nausea and sickness.

The Environment Agency (EA) said it was deploying heat-seeking drones to "identify any gas hotspots" that may be causing odour at the landfill site at Compton Bassett which is run by waste operator Hills.

"Odour impacts at this level are not acceptable and the operator must act quickly to resolve the issues," an EA spokesperson said.

The agency confirmed that about 1,700 people had complained about the smell in March and April.

Since then, government inspectors have traced the source of the smell back to a single cell at the landfill site.

Hills has been working to stop the odour at the source by covering up the cell.

The EA said the operator had "now completed works to cover the operational area with soil, with further action to permanently cap the operational area expected to begin later in May".

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