Residents have complained of a ‘foul smelling’ oil being dumped at a popular dog walking spot in Prestwich. The oil has been seen in a stream at Prestwich Clough recently.
A local dog walker has hit out at the ‘nasty’ state the stream is being left in. They say the woodland site has become a 'no go zone' for dog walkers and told the Manchester Evening News about the ‘foul smell’ emanating from the site.
United Utilities have been called and say their investigations show that the substance has not come from the sewers and have passed their findings to the Environment Agency who are investigating the source of the oil.
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A dog walker who preferred to remain anonymous said: “It’s a really foul smell, it’s that sort of smell you get when you walk past a takeaway, it’s that intense you can smell flavouring and spices that have been dumped. It’s obviously been done overnight.
“It’s ruining the area, a lot families go there, people take their dogs and especially with the hot weather the dogs go under the stream. There’s been quite a lot of posts from people saying it's hard to clean grease off the fur of their pets.
“It’s become a bit of a no go area, all the frogs are dead. The rats are having a field day, it’s nasty, someone needs to investigate this as a criminal offence.”
A United Utilities spokesperson, said: “Our teams have visited Prestwich Clough and established that the oil has not been discharged via any of our assets in the area. We have now passed our findings over to the Environment Agency who will be able to investigate this potentially illegal discharge.”
A spokesperson for Environment Agency said: “We have received reports of a pollution to Prestwich Clough. Our officers are investigating the source.
"As this is a live investigation, we would be unable to comment further in order not to prejudice our enquiries. Members of the public can report pollution incidents to our 24/7 incident hotline on 0800 80 70 60”
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