Dust and smell ruining our

VILLAGERS in a Valleys community say they are enduring “awful” living conditions as the result of dust and a terrible smell.

People in Gelligaer say they won’t invite people to visit and their children cannot play outside as a result.

Rob Salter, owner of Greenhill Stores, said: “The smell burns your nose, it is absolutely disgusting. You can’t open your windows in the summer, that’s how bad it is.”

He also said there are “more flies and rats around the area” and that one family had to leave as a result. Earlier this year, Welsh towns and cities were named among the most polluted in Britain. The smell and dust are coming from a nearby quarry and recycling plant. The owners, Bryn Group, say they are listening to residents’ concerns and taking action. They said the heatwave was making the dust more of a problem.

The smell and the extent of the dust problem is immediately obvious to any visitor. Parents say they are now very concerned about the effects the dust, especially, is having on the health of the area’s children. This is what it’s like to live on Wales’ most polluted street .

Mother-of-two Laura Summers, 33, from Claerwen, says her son’s eczema has been affected by the conditions. She added: “Our houses are black from the dust, are they going to pay for houses to be repainted?

“I can’t hang my clothes on a washing line, meaning I’ve had to buy a dryer and that is added cost with the electricity.”

Residents have also come together to fund a dust-measuring device, which they say will cost around £800. They voiced their concerns at a public meeting on Monday. Laura added: “People want to sell their houses but viewers will have to know of the smell. The explosions at the quarry are dramatically loud, there’s no warning and you see kids screaming and crying.

“I try not to be at home for most of the day because the smell and dust is so bad so I try and run away from my own home.”

Another resident, Harriet Weyman, said: “The smell is getting worse and we’ve now got rats to deal with too.

“I want to get the paddling pool out for the children and have a barbecue, but we can’t because the smell and dust is that bad. We don’t even open the windows.

“I won’t invite anyone over my house, it’s too embarrassing.”

A Bryn Group spokeswoman said the company sympathised with residents and understood the issues with the smell. She said the dry, hot weather was causing the dust problem and that a fire started at the beginning of July had made the smell worse.

“A mattress was was thrown in the bushes and was set on fire, the fire service confirmed this to us,” she said.

“We have dust guards installed which manage to contain 95% of the dust. Also, we have been given special permission from Caerphilly council to start wetting the roads from morning to night.

“No activity on site has changed that would result in additional dust being produced.”

Addressing health concerns, she said the firm had set up a “liaison committee” and “discussion group” to examine whether the conditions were impacting on health.