Skirlaugh Village - An East Riding of Yorkshire Village

Smell's So Bad I Can't Go Out

Residents in an East Riding village have been kicking up a stink over strong smells from a nearby stream. Jane Kemp, from Vicarage Lane in Skirlaugh, is just one person who has had to hold her nose due to the odour of sewage and pig slurry rising from the Lambwath Drain which runs at the back of her garden. Mrs Kemp said the stench has been so powerful she has had to keep her doors and windows closed and stay inside. She said she has not been able to hang her washing out or potter about in the garden because the smell is sickening.
Today the Environment Agency revealed the cause of the smell from the stream, which runs from Aldborough to Withernsea, is the weather. Mrs Kemp said: "It's been awful since last Friday afternoon - everybody's been complaining about it.
"I have rung the water board and the Environment Agency to try to find out about it. "The smell has been so bad I've had to close the windows and keep indoors. "I can't even bear to go outside in the garden it's so bad." A spokesman for the Environment Agency said the recent deluge of rain and warm temperatures are to blame. The spokesman said: "The heavy rain has led to an increase in run-off from fields. Agency officers have been monitoring the situation over several days after a member of the public reported the Lambworth Drain was black and smelly. "This has been due to silage and other pollution coming from the fields mixed with sewer overflows due to the heavy rain."