Residents at a new development along the Ballarat-Carngham Road have voiced their concern and displeasure over a "disgusting and foul" odour filling their street.
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Multiple residents at Winter Valley Rise reached out to The Courier during the week to report the odour which they have said is at time so bad it has stopped them from going outside.
Jamie Williams said the smell has caused him to dry-heave each time he goes into his backyard.
"It smells like the saleyards," he said.
"We can't go outside, it's disgusting, we can't open any of the windows, I feel bad for our dogs that are out there."
Mr Williams said the odour reached its most pungent and powerful stage once earth-moving started to take place behind his home.
"People have been working out the back of the house for three or four weeks... it's only been since the bulldozer started doing work back there that it's been really bad but it's absolutely horrendous."
Other residents spoke to The Courier, however they wished to remain anonymous.
"It's shocking... the last two weeks have been disgusting," one said on Thursday.
"It's runs through my whole house, I can't leave any doors or windows open. The last two days in particular have even really bad and whenever the weather heats up it's terrible."
Another resident said while the smell caused some discomfort, he was willing to deal with it while the construction and earthmoving was ongoing.
"It doesn't fuss us too much, if it stays like this it'd be annoying but for the time being we're happy to put up with it," he said.
Mr Williams said he contacted the City of Ballarat about the odour but didn't receive any response following his initial call.
Council released a statement about the smell on Friday afternoon, saying "no detectable odour was identified."
"Having received concerns from residents in relation to unusual odour at the Winter Valley Rise residential estate on Carngham Road, the matter has been investigated. While no detectable odour was identified during the investigation, it is understood that it may be due to wet clay. We will continue to monitor this," the release said.
David Compston, Operations manager at Wayne Horne Earthmoving, who is conducting the earthmoving behind the set of homes said the smell is normal and will dissipate within days.
"It smells that way because it's been a wet winter," he said.
"We've had to strip the soil wet and the top soil that we've put back out hasn't had a chance to dry out yet... that's where the odour is coming from.
"I expect the smell to be gone within the week, 100 per cent.
"Once we get some dry weather there'll be a chance for a crust to form, once that happens we'll re-work it which will create an odour once again but after that it will just dissipate into nothing."
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