South West Water has admitted that all nine odour control units at a local waste water treatment works have not operated for seven years, despite years of complaints about the pong.

Plymouth Labour councillor for Honicknowle, West Park and Ernesettle Keith Moore received the information following a formal request for the company to release odour data for the Ernesettle waste water treatment works under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004. 

Cllr Moore said: “People in Ernesettle were told the smell was just one of those things. All the while, South West Water knew every one of those nine units had been off for seven years. You don’t do that by accident. It was never a mystery to them. They knew, and they let it carry on. They don’t even measure how it affects people here.” 

The data released shows the highest number of complaints from within a one kilometre radius of the site were in 2014 and 2025 when there were 18 and 13 respectively.

There has only been one complaint this year so far and some years there were no complaints.

However, it is believed that navigating South West Water’s helpline to report a smell has prevented people doing so. An online tool for logging complaints was set up this June after campaigning by local MP Luke Pollard.

People have been urged to log all complaints to put pressure on the water company to fix the root cause.

Residents who kept diaries reported that on hot mornings the smell was so bad they could not even open their windows.

Mr Moore claimed that one such case which reached the company through the Environment Agency was closed after SWW called the works “operating as intended”.

An online petition by resident Sarah Colwill for permanent odour control has gathered over 800 signatures.

Councillor Keith Moore said he and fellow ward councillor Ray Morton (Lab) fished in Ernesettle Creek for years and the smell “bothers us as much as it bothers our neighbours.”

“They (SWW) are hoping I’ll get tired and go away. But I grew up here, and we’re not going anywhere. Those units were switched off on their watch, and I won’t stop until they’re back on.”

Cllr Moore is calling for a public apology.

He is also asking the council’s environmental health team to examine whether the odour is a statutory nuisance.

Pongs from treatment plants across the city – including Ernesettle and Plympton – have been plaguing residents’ lives for years.

Plymouth councillors have slammed South West Water for “failing Plymouth” and have vowed to hold the water company to account over odour control and sewage discharges.

At a full council meeting in July one claimed Britain’s Ocean City had been reduced to a “sick joke”. 

Plymouth Hoe bathing waters were affected by sewage discharges last week from the Plymouth Central Waste Water Treatment Works at Cattedown.

Operational problems at the plant were highlighted by the Environment Agency which issued a warning for people not to swim there.

Plymouth City Council is calling on the government for reforms that prioritise the interests of customers and communities demanding that “public health and environmental protection must be placed ahead of shareholder profit”.

South West Water said it took complaints about odours seriously.

It has encouraged people to use the online tool to help it target its investigations.