A vile smell coming from an organic processing plant wafting over the Christchurch suburb of Bromley is forcing residents inside their homes and making others physically ill.
After years of denying there is even a problem, the Christchurch City Council is meeting with residents to reveal their plan to reduce the odour and dust that comes from the plant.
Bromley local Corrie van Herwaarden is forced to spray all her furniture to try and get rid of the smell.
"I close everything, and then I watch the news or something and then the smell still comes in and so I actually have to - I have nice thick curtains so I really have to shut them," she said.
Another resident, Carol Anderson, says it doesn't contribute to a pleasant living environment.
"You can't get out in the garden and enjoy it, you can't sit with a cup of coffee at the back door or whatever and enjoy it, it's just horrible."
The vile odour and dust blows over from the nearby Living Earth organic waste plant, and some say it's now impacting their health.
"I have a cough that I can't get rid of and the doctor can't attribute it to anything at all that might be appropriate, like bronchitis or asthma, nothing like that. There's no allergies, no nothing, it's just a constant, constant cough with all the dust," Anderson says.
Van Herwaarden says the smell is so awful it makes you feel sick and you can't breathe.
"I started walking with a mask now because I like to do my walking and everything actually stinks. You know, the smell is so overpowering. I've been actually sick twice - I had to go to the hospital," she says.
A third Bromley local, Vicki Walker, says she works as often as possible at her antique goods business to get a reprieve.
"This is my happy place - I don't have a smell in here. I have a little bit of downtime even though I'm working. I don't have that smell and I'm safe because I don't know what's in that smell," she says.
"I've got a pretty cast-iron stomach but to me, it was like smelling someone else's vomit almost."
The council is due to meet with residents on Monday to reveal a plan to tackle the problem - which involves covering 80 percent of the plant.
"The people have had a gutsful," Linwood City Councillor Yani Johanson says. "They don't deserve to live in this sort of environment. It's been unacceptable for over ten years and they're at breaking point so council needs to act and it needs to act quickly."
