For the past couple of years they have been complaining about the stench from the slurry lagoon at Brecks Farm in Swillington and during the past few weeks the smell has been as unpleasant as ever.

One resident, Patricia Cockram, claimed that when it was really bad you couldn't stand outside.

"It was particularly dreadful last summer," she claimed.
"One Sunday we had some friends round and had to keep all the windows and doors closed all day even though it was beautiful weather because the smell was so awful.

"I am not looking forward to another summer like that."
Another resident, Alan Howard, claimed that the value of people's houses was being affected by the smell as well as the general quality of life.

He said: "We are surrounded by countryside and accept the consequences of that when it comes to periodic activities on the land. All that residents want is to live without the sickening smell of pig slurry throughout the year."

His wife, Margo, said that on occasions she had to bring in clothes from the line and wash them again because they picked up the smell.
She said: "I think that we have put up with this for too long. It seems that I am looking at another summer of not being able to go outside, not opening windows, not drying my washing on the line etc."

Jenny Gibson, of the Environment Agency, said: "We asked Brecks Farm as part of their environmental permit to submit plans to us by March 25 on a way of covering the slurry lagoon to reduce the odour problem.
"These have not been received. We will be serving a notice ordering the company to ensure the submission of these improvement plans."

Councillor Mark Dobson (Lab, Garforth and Swillington) said that he was "disappointed" that Brecks Farm had missed the March deadline, but he had been assured by the Environment Agency that they were not prepared to let it rest.

"In the meantime I urge the owners to voluntarily get the matter under control," he said.

"The people of Garforth and Swillington ward are not prepared to put up with a repeat of last summer when, depending on which way the wind was blowing, they could not open windows or doors in warm weather."

Brecks Farm was unavailable for comment.