THE disgusting stench that has left people across the town feeling sick has been caused by chicken waste spread on farmland.

The offensive odour was first noticed in Westhoughton last Thursday and has since affected other areas of the borough and Greater Manchester.

Environmental health officials have since been investigating concerns about the sludge spread on a field next to the A6 in Wingates.

United Utilities says that although it regularly provides batches of treated sewage sludge to farmers, it does not use chicken waste in its material.

The water company said that there is no suggestion of any contaminated batch of biosolids, and that a farm in the Westhoughton area has been using different kinds of fertiliser on different fields.

A spokesman added: “We have been helping the Environment Agency as they investigate the ‘muck-spreading’ smells in the Bolton area.”

Furious residents and businesses are demanding answers as to why the chicken waste has been allowed to be used.

Catalina Sastre (pictured below), owner of the Party and Play Funhouse in Wingates, is fed up with the smell.

The Bolton News:

She said: “It is still very much in the air.

“I would like to know what is actually being done about it and why it has been allowed to happen in the first place.

“These are very simple questions that should be answered.

“We have an outdoor area that the kids can play in, but they can’t stay out there for long at the moment.

“We are trying to keep our doors shut and keep the smell out — it is absolutely disgusting.

“In 10 years here I have never known a smell this bad.”

It had been thought that the odour was beginning to disappear on Monday, but today it could still be smelled as far away as Bolton town centre.

Westhoughton councillor David Chadwick said: “I would like someone to put in place mechanisms to avoid a similar occurrence in future years.

“I do understand that things get can mixed up inadvertently, but clearly it is not good for people to be exposed to this level of smell which is very strong.

“It needs to be avoided in future.”

A Bolton Council spokesman said that it was continuing its investigation into the Wingates fields.

The AirVault Trampoline Park, also based at the Wingates Industrial Estate next to the field, is another business that has been hit by the stench.

Its owner, Mark Denison, said: “We usually open our shutters in the afternoon because it gets very hot, but we haven’t been able to this week.

“So it has been boiling in our arena and the cafe area because we don’t want to let this horrendous smell in.

“It has been a bit of a nightmare for us.

“It is definitely much worse than a normal farming smell. There are lots of fields around here and you accept smells to some degree, but usually they don’t last this long and aren’t nearly as bad as this.”

The Bolton News:

Map showing areas where people have got in touch with The Bolton News to complain about the smell 

READ MORE: What's that smell? 'Obnoxious' odour is making town's residents feel 'physically ill'

Is this the cause of the disgusting stench causing complaints across Greater Manchester?

Another Wingates resident, who asked not to be named, said: “The smell is still here and it is as bad as ever.

“I know for a fact that Westhoughton has had problems for a long while with its sewers and drains, so there are a number of issues here.

“I have had to call United Utilities three times before because of sewage coming into my back yard.

“And if they are going to be building thousands of new homes in Westhoughton, I would think those kind of problems will just get worse.”