Mystery ten-year-old stink RETURNS to town as locals left with watering eyes forced to shut their windows

A DECADE-OLD stink has made an unwelcome return to a port town.

Locals in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, have been forced to shut their windows and doors thanks to the "eyewatering" stench.

Scores of people living in the area have shared their disgust at the poor quality of air.

One person said on Facebook that the smell was "so strong" they were "waking up in the night to shut the windows".

Another posted on Twitter: "I don’t know if it’s dead fish, some sort of s*** or rotting toenails.

"The whole place, including Sealand Road, f***ing stinks."

While a third compared it to "chicken poo" and a fourth said it "makes your eyes water".

The notorious "Sealand stink" - named after the road where it smells strongest - has plagued the town for years.

People have been likening it to the smell of a burning oven since at least 2004, but some say complaints go as far back as the 1950s.

It seemed to die down for several years in the noughties, but it now appears to be back with a vengeance.

No-one has confirmed the source of the pong, but several have pointed the finger at a farm on Sealand Road, which borders England and Wales.

One resident told the "foul smell" resembles "dead bodies and human waste".

They said in July: "We have now endured the smell for almost a month and it has become unbearable.

"People we have spoken to have referred to it as smelling like dead bodies rotting and human waste.

"After speaking with other fellow residents, many who are farmers who have been here for years and years, they agree too that it's unlike anything they have ever smelt before."

'UNBEARABLE STENCH'

Meanwhile, an environmental campaigner said: "The so-called 'Sealand stink' was never connected with farmland.

"It first appeared back in the 70s and was connected with the sewage works.

"This is still not perfect but is many times better since Welsh Water upgraded the plant and removed processing from it."

A spokesperson for Natural Resources Wales said it was working with the land owner and local authority to investigate the matter.