Are there any controls on "muck spreading" near houses?

[bootifu...@gmail.com]

I recognise that living in rural areas involves contending with "muck"
spreading, huge tractors and lorries on small roads, poultry
mega-factories, and ploughed-up (or planted-over) footpaths but are
there no controls on "muck" spreading near houses? The last week has
been sickening and looks like continuing for a while longer.

[Colin Bignell]

AFAIK, near waterways, yes, near houses, no. Of course, near is a
relative value. I can usually smell fields treated with slurry a couple
of miles before I reach them.

--
Colin Bignell

[Martin Brown]

On 22/08/2023 14:53, bootifu...@gmail.com wrote:

None that I can think of. Many farmers round here mostly inject it into
the ground rather than spray it into the air. Pig slurry is about the
worst - most of the other manures you get used to if you live in the
country. It only smells bad for a couple of days and you get used to it
or most people do (some townies never adapt and leave within 2 years).

Fresh clean country air for most of the time but not when much spreading.

There is one exception though - human waste which is so bad it makes pig
shit smell sweet. A cheapskate farmer known for dodgy deals got a load
of it about a decade ago and was black balled by every pub for using it.

The plague of flies and the smell that made some people wretch was
utterly intolerable. He was forced to stop before using it all. Even the
following year and cut with pig shit it was still unmistakeable.

ISTR there are are rules about not muck spreading too close to water
courses or in conditions where heavy rain is expected that may lead to
contamination of streams and rivers. Enforcement is another matter.

One obnoxious pig farmer once sprayed the house of our then Parish Clerk
with pig shit over a planning dispute and got away with it by claiming
that the wind caught it... And the court believed him - nobody else did!

--
Martin Brown

[Robert]

On 22/08/2023 14:53, bootifu...@gmail.com wrote:

Turkey manure is from my experience the worst smelling.
Given that farmers have to reduce the risk of the manure ( and the
Nitrogen in it) from running off and getting into water courses,
spreading tends now to take place in dryish weather.
This does mean the smell hangs around longer !