Petition started to stop the Lidsey landfill site's smell

Organiser Steve Hellyer gathered 70-80 names in his first hour of launching the formal protest.

“I didn’t have one bad response from anyone I spoke to,” he said.

“Every household had their own views on the situation.”

His petition calls on the Environment Agency to act within two months of receiving the petition if the stink persists.

The protesters want the site at Headhone Farm on the A29 closed if that is the case and capped and sealed to ensure no further gas from the rubbish placed there escapes.

“The smell is bad for our own health and our children’s health.

“We are not prepared to put up with this terrible smell until 2015 when the operators say they will be finished,” the petition states.

The companies, Sita and Veolia, were due to have left the site last year, but they received a three-year extension because less refuse was being sent there than expected because of the rise of recycling.

“The slow filling is their problem. It shouldn’t be our problem,” said Mr Hellyer, of Oak Tree Lane. “We should not have to suffer this air pollution for another three years.”

The problem began last summer. The extremely wet conditions caused the waste to generate more gas than usual and reduce the effect of the measures to tackle it.

Efforts by the operators and overseen by the Environment Agency – such as clay caps and gas wells – are also weather dependent.

New work will take place, but only after a spell of dry weather which has so far proved elusive in the continuing wet weather.

Meanwhile, Mr Hellyer said the residents around the site and as far away as Bognor Regis were suffering the smell.

“People are becoming more aware of what is happening,” he said, “and they are becoming angry when they realise what the cause of the smell is.

“These are big businesses running the landfill site and they are making money from it while we suffer.”

He intends to continue his petition until it reaches at least 1,000 signatures.

MP Nick Herbert has linked with the fight.