Tourists hit with ‘terrible’ stench at popular Scots beauty spot near dump

TOURISTS will be turning up their noses at Loch Lomond — because of powerful whiffs from a nearby landfill site.

Visitors must endure the stench from the Auchencarroch tip just minutes from the beauty spot, one of Scotland’s top attractions.

Fumes from decomposing waste are drifting across the water and nearby towns and villages.

Neighbours have called energy suppliers as they are mistaking the funk for leaking gas pipes.

Life-long local Alan Cameron, 78, said: “The stench is terrible. If it gets much worse it could put people off visiting.

“A site like this should never have been opened this close to Loch Lomond.

“All the burns and tributaries were loaded with brown trout. Numbers aren’t what they were.

“There’s worries something’s been seeping into the water.”

The pong’s been noticeable for at least five months.

It is evident in holiday favourites Luss, Balloch and Alexandria, where Tracy Millward, 53, works at the Fountain Cafe.

She said: “You open a window and the whole house stinks.

“There’s fears it will get worse when the hotter weather comes.”

Kilmaronock Community Council says the odour has been “noxious” and “unbearable”.

A monitoring report lodged with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency reveals there were “compliance exceedances within the groundwater and surface water” at monitoring sites at the landfill last year.

Testing of water percolating through the waste has revealed elevated levels of ammonia, chloride and nickel.

Scottish Conservative MSP Maurice Golden said: “No one should have to put up with a rancid stench on their doorstep — but it’s even worse when the pollution is an area which is reliant on tourism, like Loch Lomond.

“The SNP Government are to blame for the delays to their landfill ban.”

SEPA said it was advising Barr Enironmental, which runs the site, on capping, closing and restoring the land.

Barr said: “Landfill restoration works are under way to permanently cap the final waste cell that was in operation.

“We are on site, carrying out regular monitoring and testing, and have no data to suggest any recent issues with odour coming from the site.”