There one moment, gone the next. A mysterious pungent smell is wafting over homes in Marsden, but it picks its moments to strike, according to two residents.
Bats, flowers, grass clippings, burnt artificial waste – Newhaven Street resident Anthony Cox has heard all the possible causes, but still can’t nail exactly what it is.
“It starts without any lead-up and stops just as quick,” Mr Cox said.
He has forensically tracked the smell over the last three years in a series of spreadsheets. “You can set your watch on it,” he said. It lasts from early October until February at the same time of 6:20pm each night.
“Out for dinner tonight, to get away from the toxic smell,” his entry from October 6 read. He said it is a familiar pattern impacting his lifestyle.
“For four months, my wife coughs, I’m on Ventolin,” he said. “We shut our doors, sit inside, because if we open our window the smell comes in.”
Mr Cox currently has a complaint before council. Council has received no other complaints about the smell.
Cr Jon Raven said odour tests to date have not justified more testing.
“We did odour testing, but the results came back inconclusive,” he said.
The latest reading came back three orders of magnitude lower than what would be classed as an odour, he said.
Cr Raven has visited Mr Cox’s house to investigate the smell three times over the last three years. His last visited just over a week ago and did not notice a strong smell.
“It might could have been an artificial smell, it didn’t smell very strong to me, but I can tell it’s impacting Lindsay and his wife,” he said.
Mr Cox’s complaint might result in further odour testing once council’s review is finalised in the next month.
He is not the only one perturbed by the smell.
Neighbour Azeem Sarwar thought his car was leaking petrol or oil before he started talking to Mr Cox and realised it could be a wider issue.
“Accidentally, I told him that I’m feeling this thing and then we started talking about it commonly,” Mr Azeem said.
“Particularly last year in the same time, I had a weird smell of the oil or petrol all around my garage, and I was so worried that I took all my cars outside and checked everything.
“It was so strong, I was worried something was going to burn, and after a few days, I was getting the same smell in the backyard as well.”
He said the smell comes between 4:30pm and 6:30pm between October and February.
“Especially at the dinner table, the kind of petrol smell, it’s horrible to eat in that smell,” Mr Sarwar said.
Another resident two streets up in Kerry Street said she smells a smoke-like odour most evenings but could not pinpoint whether it was from the neighbours’ cooking or something else.
