BLOCKED drains have been identified as the most common source of smell complaints in East Renfrewshire.

The information is contained in a new study which highlights Scotland’s smelliest places to live in.

A total of 275 complaints about smell were made in East Renfrewshire in the five years from 2015 to 2019.

While neighbouring Renfrewshire made it into the top 10 on the ‘pongometer’ with a complaint received for every 319 residents, the problems were less severe in East Renfrewshire, where there was one for every 345 residents.

Although the whiff from blocked drains was the most common complaint in the Barrhead area, other gripes were more unusual, with ‘sludge cakes’ – which are used in agriculture to dispose of waste – getting right up the nose of at least one fed-up resident.

East Renfrewshire Council received 45 smell complaints in 2015, followed by another 68 the next year, 73 more in 2017, 55 in 2018 and 35 last year.

A council spokesperson told the Barrhead News: “Our environmental health team investigates any complaint we receive to ensure there is no risk to public health.”

Moray was named as Scotland’s smelliest place, with a complaint for every 172 people living there.

A bad odour is deemed to be a ‘statutory nuisance’ if it interferes with the use or enjoyment of a home or other premise, or if it injures health.

Bad smells are also the third biggest turn-off for homebuyers, research suggests, behind damp and the property being in a poor state of repair.

In five years, councils in Scotland received a total of 12,736 nuisance smell complaints.
Rich Quelch, of home fragrance experts Lifestyle Packaging, which carried out the study, said: “It’s really interesting to see where residents complain the most about bad smells and the range of complaints councils receive every year.

“From a pet crematorium in West Lothian and fumes from a nail bar in Stirling to a bad smell coming from Lundie Castle, in Angus, the list of unusual smell complaints is endless.”