Reporting odour, noise or dust

Members of the community are encouraged to report odour issues that they may experience.

Where is the smell coming from - report an environmental problem - GOV.UK

If anyone detects odours that are similar to;

-  wet or damp smelling concrete 

or 

- odour associated to decomposing soils

Residents and other members of the public can call the Environment Agency reporting hotline on 0800 80 70 60.

When reporting odours it is important that you provide the following;

- level of offensiveness,

- if the odour is persistent,

- the duration of that odour,

- the location you are reporting on

For help describing odours, please take a look at our odour intensity scale provided below.

Odour intensity describes the strength of the odour as perceived by an individual officer. Our officers record odour intensity using a scale of 0 to 6 as follows:

0. No Odour
1. Very faint odour (need to inhale into the wind to smell anything)
2. Faint odour (you can detect an odour when you inhale normally)
3. Distinct odour (there is clearly an odour in the air as you leave your car or enter the area)
4. Strong odour (a bearable odour but strong, you could stay in the area for some time)
5. Very strong odour (unpleasantly strong, you will want to leave the area quickly)
6. Extremely strong odour (likely to cause nausea and a strong need to remove yourself from the odour immediately).

For all noise and dust reports from the public, please use our National Hotline Number: 0800 807060. The Call Handler will ask for your details and create a National Incident Number. This is then passed to the relevant teams within the EA and the Team Leader or duty officer will investigate.

The Call Handler will ask for a location, date, time and description of the incident.

You can either remain anonymous, or provide your details and request feedback from the incident. 

Our aim is to substantiate each report where practical to do so and publish the findings on this platform.