Hertsmere has been ranked as one of the smelliest places in England

So if there's a nasty smell that's making life a misery, sometimes you've got to take action.

You could choose to have it out with the person who you think is responsible for that odour but more commonly, residents are relying on their council to get to the bottom of the problem.

If you are experiencing some unfortunate smells at home or at work, you can call up the environmental health team at your local council to make a nuisance smell complaint.

And it seems in Hertsmere, residents are doing exactly that.

Data compiled by home fragrance company Lifestyle Packaging has revealed Hertsmere Borough Council received 673 smell complaints between 2015 and 2019, including 148 in 2019.

When taking into account Hertsmere's population of just over 100,000, this equates to 683 complaints per capita, ranking it 10th highest in England, making it one of the 'smelliest' places to live..

The council's environmental health team says 376 of the 683 complaints have been about bonfires and another cause for complaint has been in relation to the use of fertilizer on farmland in the borough.

A "fair number" have been historically associated with the Reviva site in Elstree, a composting farm, and in 2015, the council issued Reviva with a statutory nuisance abatement notice after complaints about smell.

Reviva site, which has since been granted permission to change its site use from composting to storage

Smell complaints in Hertsmere are way above neighbouring Watford and Three Rivers.

Watford Borough Council has confirmed it received 191 smell complaints between 2015 and 2019, most commonly domestic smells.

Three Rivers District Council has received just seven (7) complaints between 2015 and 2019 - the most common being food preparation but the council did receive a complaint about the smell of a wood burner.

Hertsmere Borough Council, offices pictured, has received nearly 700 smell complaints between 2015 and 2019

Some of the stranger complaints received across the UK by councils include the smell of burning flesh, a neighbour urinating in their doorway, a neighbour cooking for five hours, bins full of cat faeces, the smell from a pub and a betting shop, and excessive spraying of air freshener.

After receiving data from councils in the UK, Lifestyle Packaging compiled a total of 114,411 complaints, out of a combined population of more than 58 million.

This means that in the last five years, one in every 500 residents in the UK has submitted a smell complaint to their council.