RESIDENTS in Johnstown are calling for a local landfill site to be shut down following an ongoing odour issue. 

A "rotten egg" smell was first reported by members of the Johnstown community in October, and almost three months later the issue continues. 

The odour is believed to be located at the Hafod Quarry Landfill site in the village. Despite significant work to address the smell, residents are still being affected. 

Local councillor David A Bithell, alongside MS Ken Skates, have been calling for the issue to be fixed for some time and have held meetings with both Enovert, the owners of the landfill site, and Natural Resources Wales. 

But for some residents, it appears enough is enough.

Cllr Bithell said: "I encourage residents to report any issues to NRW, who myself and Ken Skates met with before Christmas.

"The smell was disgusting the other day and I hope NRW take action to ensure compliance with the environmental permit.

"The residents want the site shut down."

An Enovert spokesperson said: “Since a significant number of odour complaints were received about the Hafod Quarry Landfill site in October 2023, Enovert has engaged with Natural Resources Wales (NRW) and agreed an action plan to bring forward engineering works at the site.

"Enovert has since been actively delivering on that action plan. On 21st December, following consultation with NRW, Enovert provided a community update to the members of the site’s liaison committee and local councillors for sharing with the wider community. 

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"The mitigation works on site to date have included installation of temporary and permanent capping and additional gas collection wells and connections, and work is continuing in line with the action plan agreed with NRW. 

"Enovert is confident that these works will improve the odour situation at the Hafod Quarry Landfill site, which makes an important contribution to managing waste arisings from businesses across North Wales and the surrounding areas."

David Powell, NRW Operations Manager for North East Wales, said: “We continue to liaise with the site operator, who are progressing with their action plan to contain the odour and comply with their environmental permit.

“We will be completing further audits of the site in the coming weeks to assess their progress.

“We have issued a Compliance Assessment Report in relation to this issue which includes our regulatory response. This will be available on the Public Register next week.”