We wanted to give residents a further update following a very busy couple of weeks behind the scenes.
The investigation into the recurring burning/chemical-type odour being reported across parts of Enfield is continuing, and a considerable amount of work is now taking place.
Love Your Doorstep, an incredible local resident, Enfield Council’s Environmental team and the Environment Agency are now sharing information and working together to try to establish exactly what is happening.
Further site visits have taken place, evidence continues to be gathered and additional visits and investigations are planned.
At this stage, we are deliberately not publishing specific locations or naming individuals or businesses that may be under investigation. Although residents have understandably developed their own theories about where the smell may be coming from, we believe it is important to allow the appropriate authorities to investigate the evidence properly before conclusions are drawn.
What we can say is that the investigation is very much active and we are not letting this go.
Your reports are incredibly important
One of the biggest developments has been the reporting map created with the help of a local resident who has put a huge amount of time into helping us understand what is happening.
The map is now building a much clearer picture of where residents are experiencing the smell, when it occurs and how reports move across the area.
This information can then be considered alongside factors such as wind direction, timing and observations on the ground.
There are now more than 200 reports to the map from acrpss Enfield and up to Cuffley. Every new report helps strengthen the data.
If you smell it – please report it on the map:
REPORT THE BURNING/CHEMICAL SMELL HERE
Please report it when you actually experience the smell, and give as accurate a location and time as possible.
This is important because the source has proved extremely difficult to trace. The smell can be experienced in one area while nothing is detectable somewhere else, and conditions can change considerably between nighttime incidents and visits made the following day.
A joined-up investigation
We want residents to know that this isn’t simply Love Your Doorstep trying to investigate something independently.
There is now a joined-up approach involving residents, Love Your Doorstep, Enfield Council officers and the Environment Agency, with evidence being shared between the relevant organisations.
We are continuing to document what residents report and will provide the relevant authorities with the information they need.
There is still work to do and we are not going to speculate publicly about the source until the evidence has been properly investigated.
But please be assured: we are listening, we are working on it and we are not letting this go.
A huge thank you to every resident who has reported an incident, shared information or helped with this work – and particularly to the local resident working alongside us who has dedicated an extraordinary amount of time to gathering and mapping the evidence while choosing to remain anonymous.
Please keep reporting it. Your information really does matter.
A Map has been created - if you are a local resident and smell the smell please fill in the map https://script.google.com/macros/s/AKfycbwL5Ik6eGUoK8U4ofoEBCyFFADPRAwchUH9S8rRr5TD3DTq6OlRwcKn_VPdYtWcplgJ6Q/exec
Enviromental Health update to Love Your Doorstep.
A visit was carried out to the site today mentioned in the below context, and works are ongoing to extinguish the combusting mound of compost. Environmental Health can confirm the bailing of the straw is being completed today. All bails will be cleared by Friday and then the field will be cultivated early next week for the mound to be distributed on this land. Due to the size of the mound, this is the safest way to extinguish. Another visit is due to early next week and Environmental Health is confident that the mound will be resolved. They will keep us updated.
Burning from residents identified on the 28th & 29th July and posted onto Love Your Doorstep - this site is still being looked into. LYDS believe it’s a different site and visits and checks were also made today.
This has been a long and complex investigation that has relied on the determination of local residents, the work of Enfield Council officers and continued community reporting.
Over the past year, Love Your Doorstep has received hundreds of reports from residents across EN1 and EN2 describing strong burning odours, often overnight and into the early hours of the morning. Every report has been passed on to Enfield Council’s Environmental Protection Team to help build a picture of when and where the incidents are occurring.
Earlier this year, one site was identified following information gathered by local residents working with Love Your Doorstep, leading to enforcement action. Now, Enfield Council has confirmed that officers have identified another site where they believe emissions may be coming from.
In an update provided to residents, Environmental Protection Officer John West confirmed that patrol visits were carried out and a notice has been served. Material believed to be causing the smoke emissions is being removed, and the site will be revisited next week as part of the council’s ongoing monitoring.
We would like to thank everyone who has continued to report incidents, often during the early hours of the morning. Those reports have played an important role in helping officers investigate what has been an extremely difficult issue to trace.
We would also like to recognise the hard work of Enfield Council’s Environmental Protection Team, particularly John West, for his continued communication with residents throughout the investigation. We also welcome the support shown by the council’s new administration, including Council Leader Cllr Alessandro Georgiou and Cabinet Member for Environment Cllr Maria Alexandrou, who have backed ongoing action to address residents’ concerns.
While this latest development is encouraging, the investigation is not yet complete. Residents are still reporting burning odours in some areas, and officers continue to monitor the situation.
If you experience the burning smell, please continue to report it to Enfield Council and let us know through Love Your Doorstep. Every report helps build the evidence needed to identify patterns and support further investigations.
We will continue to keep residents updated as we receive further information.
We would also like to advise local residents, there is no cover up, this is an on going investigation. local residents have been assisting Enfield Councils Environmental team. The issue is the site has kept moving.
For urgent environmental health emergencies outside normal hours, contact Enfield Council's main out-of-hours control number at 020 8379 1000
Conversation on Love Your Doorstep 24th July 2026
