by Emma Grove

Residents fed-up with the foul stench that has decended over the area, have started a petition.

People who live in Sittingbourne, especially in the Bredgar and Iwade area, have noticed the smell for the past two weeks. It is so bad, people have been feeling sick because of it.

According to Swale council, the smell is paper sludge which farmers have been spreading over the fields. The use of paper sludge is regulated and monitored by the Environment Agency.

Sittingbourne’s prospective Tory parliamentary Gordon Henderson, has written to the Environment Agency to urge them to review the way they regulate the use of the sludge.

Mr Henderson took the action after he received hundreds of complaints about the smell.

John Measday, who lives in Silver Street, Bredgar, has started a petition to try and prevent the use of the sludge in future.

So far almost 140 people have signed it, and Mr Measday, 77, plans to present it to Swale council.

He said: “The smell has been horrendous and a number of people felt sick and got headaches because of it.”

Aaron Harris, 21, lives in Kemsley but works in the kitchen at The Sun Inn, Bredgar.

He said: “Working with the food in the kitchen with that smell is just awful, it’s unbearable sometimes.”

Sophie Duffin, 28, said: “Living in Tunstall I’m used to the smell for a week or so but this is now getting ridiculous and the fact that you can smell it where ever you are in town is terrible.”

And Matt Butchard, 45, who lives in Sittingbourne, said: “Living in Sittingbourne you come to expect this kind of smell from time to time but it’s seems as though we have had to put up with this stench for weeks now and it puts you off spending time in your garden or leaving your windows open on a summers day.”

Phone calls

An Environment Agency spokesman said officers are on site and working with landowners to tackle the “latest in a line of bad smells to affect people in Swale in the last month”.

He said the Environment Agency had received more than 70 phone calls on Wednesday from members of the public complaining about another smell.

The farmer has been asked to spread an odour suppressant (potassium permanganate) over the field to reduce the smell.

Environment manager for north Kent, Alan Cansdale, said: “Local people have had to put up with a series of bad smells in the area over the last few months. We would like to reassure them that we’re doing all we can to find out the causes of the problems and, where we can, do something about it. Unfortunately, this seasonal spreading of sludge has coincided with a period of very still, muggy weather, which has made the problem worse.”