A farmer who runs an organic green waste recycling facility has said sorry to the people of Falmouth for ‘vile’ thick “evil smelling” smoke covered the town at the weekend.

Neil Pengelly who runs Greenspot at Higher Kergilliack farm on the Constantine road said he like to apologise to people about the smoke which was caused, he said, by compost being set on fire without his knowledge.

He blamed kids for setting fire to the compost over the weekend which caused a thick cloud of smoke to drift across Falmouth and Penryn, causing many people to complain about having difficulty breathing and the “vile” smell which left everything stinking.

“I’m very apologetic about this he said but it was out of my control,” said Mr Pengelly. “We had a spate of this happening over the years. We think it’s children getting onto the site and setting fire to the compost. We have had trouble here before with people setting fire to the compost."

The fire was said to have originated from GreenspotThe fire was said to have originated from Greenspot (Image: Paul Armstrong)

He said he would “absolutely” be making sure it didn’t happen again.

He said the fire service had been down and sorted it out and the Environment Agency was coming down this afternoon to see what could be done to stop it happening again.

People living in Eve Parc complained about a really strong “vile” smell that left them with a sore throat and everything stinking.

Others complained about the stench with one person saying “How delightful that we all have to suffer and stink of smoke because of this.”

People complained they had difficulty breathing in some cases, especially people who suffer from breathing conditions such as Asthma.

The compost caught fire at the weekendThe compost caught fire at the weekend (Image: David Saunby)

One woman said her elderly parents were struggling to breath because of it.

Others said even in yesterday's wind and rain the roads around the farm were full of smoke.

People complained about the smell as far away as Gllyngvase and Swanpool beaches as well as Penryn and Boslowick.

Some people pointed out that compost if left gets naturally hot and can spontaneously combust if not dealt with properly.

Many people said they had complained to Cornwall Council’s environmental health department about it.

Cornwall Council and the Environment Agency have been contacted for comment.