Environmental health officers have taken action to prevent foul smells wafting over the historic town of Burford.

Residents and visitors were left holding their noses for several days earlier this month after human waste was spread by a farmer on nearby fields.

Complaints flooded in to town and district councillors, with some tourists looking for places to stay away from the town. It is the second year the town has been plagued by smells from human waste, supplied by a Thames Water subsidiary. West Oxfordshire District Council's environmental services department has been investigating the complaints.

In a report to councillors the environmental services director, Paul Lankester, said spreading this type of waste on farm land was common practice and not in itself illegal. "It does, however, lead to considerable disturbance from odour to local residents and in this case it was the investigating officer's view that the odour present was so disturbing and affecting such a large area that it constituted a statutory nuisance under the Environmental Protection Act 1990," he said.

"An abatement notice preventing future use of such sludge in such a manner as to cause a statutory nuisance was served on the farmer."

Story date: Tuesday 26 October

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