The village that’s being plagued by ‘unbearable’ swarms of flies

Lewis Smith, local democracy reporter

Residents from a rural village say their lives are being made hell as a result of swarms of flies that have been plaguing their homes.

Residents in the village of Bettws, around 15 minutes from Bridgend, say they have been dealing with uncontrollable numbers of common house flies entering their homes in recent months leaving many to consider nights away in hotels or even moving altogether.

While a council spokesperson has said the cause of the massive amounts of flies has yet to be identified, residents have spoken out about the problems they face on a daily basis, which they say leaves them unable to eat a meal without the insects landing on their food.

Mental health 

Hayley Laaser, 42, has lived in Bettws her whole life and says she is currently at her wit’s end trying to solve the problem. She said: “We’re in this situation where we just have flies everywhere and it’s really affecting our mental health.

“We’ve tried nets, sticky strips and even keeping the doors and windows closed but nothing seems to work. There are just so many here to the point where its’ embarrassing to have people in our homes and we don’t know what to do.

“There are literally thousands of them and sometimes people think we’re exaggerating but you have to see it to believe it. You can’t open a window or a door without them pouring in, and you can’t even prepare a meal in the house as the flies will be crawling all over it.

“We do have issues every year as we are in a rural area surrounded by farms and small holdings but this year it has been ten times worse. We just want it sorted now so we can have our windows open in the warm weather, and stop stressing over the fact that it seems to be getting worse.”

Melanie Simons runs the local Oddfellows Arms in Bettws and said as well as her everyday life, the problem was also impacting her business at the moment.

‘Terrible’

She said: “It’s absolutely terrible up here and while we’ve had issues in the past it’s never been this bad. Everybody in the area has had enough. For us we’ve been unable to put food out in the pub over the last few days due to the amount of flies crawling all over it, and even things like feeding the dog become difficult because they are there within moments.”

Sarah Dawe 50, also lives in the village and added: “We’re absolutely inundated with flies and it is becoming unbearable. You can’t cook or eat food or even open the windows. To be honest it’s horrific and I’ve never seen anything like it in my life.

“It has been bad over the past three years but this year has topped them all, and if you speak to anyone in Bettws they will tell you how bad it is. We’ve still not been told what’s causing it, but we hope they find out soon.”

Common house flies

A council spokesperson said: “Environmental health officers from the Shared Regulatory Service are visiting locations across Bridgend County Borough to determine what may be the cause for a reported increase in the number of common house flies. The flies, which have also been reported in areas such as Broadlands and Kenfig Hill, appear to be mainly affecting homes in Bettws.”

Councillor Martyn Jones, who is the local member for Bettws added: “I have received many calls and emails from concerned residents who have reported having to deal with large numbers of common house flies over the last week or so.

“I have reported this to environmental health experts within the Shared Regulatory Service, and they are liaising with other regulators to determine the source of the infestation. Until they have completed this process, it is important to try and avoid speculation, especially on social media, regarding where the flies may be coming from.

“Once the source has been confirmed, appropriate action can be taken to tackle and address the problem, and I hope to have more news for residents on this very soon.”