‘It smelled like dead people’: the plan to tackle England’s illegal waste problem

Andy Burnham has announced a crackdown, but doubts remain over authorities’ ability to take on organised crime “There were parents dropping their children off and then heaving from the smell,” says Liz Thompson, 45, who runs Blessings Nursery in Bradford, West Yorkshire.

During the recent heatwaves, the smell from an illegal waste dump on Midland Road, just metres from the nursery, became so unbearable that staff had to keep the doors and windows shut and the children couldn’t play outside.

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