A FOUL smell has been offending the nostrils in the west of the town again today.

Described as smelling of "raw sewage", the pong is said to have been noticeable in the area around Beaumont Road and Lady Bridge for some time.

Residents of the estate and motorists say they are being plagued by the smell whose cause has led to no end of speculation.

One motorist said: "The stench of the Victorian Thames miasma must have been like that.

"It's a vile sewage smell that lingers. It had been raining very heavily, so that might have been something to do with it."

A resident who runs through the area daily added that the stink was "not pleasant" and noted that it had been around for a while.

She suggested that the aroma may be coming from farmland off Lostock Lane, adding: "The smell is really weird. It's a sewagey, farmy smell."

There have been many other proposed explanations and origins, including land to the rear of the Three Pigeons pub and a mysterious fenced off station near the roadside. 

The manager of the Shell garage in Beaumont Road suggested the putrid stench may be in fact be have emanating from the Knutshaw Brook at the back of the petrol station.

He added that the smell has been a recurrent problem which gets worse in warmer weather.

The manager also said he thought the whiff may have something to do with vermin spotted near to the brook.

But he added that there was no problem with vermin at the petrol station and that they had put down traps down to catch rodents.

Nonetheless, amidst the many probing hypotheses, the true cause of the smell may at last have come to light.

Indeed it has been revealed that the odour could be the result of measures taken by water company United Utilities intended to prevent the town's sewage network from flooding during the recent inclement weather.

A United Utilities spokesman said: "We have overflows on Knutshaw Brook near Beaumont Road in Bolton that act as relief valves for the local sewer system during exceptionally heavy rainfall.

"We apologise to local residents if they’ve noticed an unpleasant smell during these temporary discharges, however, we have Environment Agency consent to operate these overflows which are designed to prevent sewer flooding to local properties by giving excess rainfall somewhere to go during extreme weather.”

An Environment Agency spokesman added that, while they had not received any reports relating to the smell, incidents of this nature can be officially reported to their incident line on 0800 80 60 70. 

Have you sniffed the stench? Get in touch with The Bolton News by emailing brad.marshall@nqnw.co.uk