THIS summer Kennet District Council's health department received more than 140 complaints from residents living in the Collingbourne Valley area about the fly nuisance.

Health officers have found there are proven links between the agricultural practice of stockpiling and spreading of organic material on agricultural land and fly nuisance but at this point there is no reliable evidence to link the two in this area.

Robert Draper, senior environmental health officer said: "Our investigations indicate the initial cause of the fly infestation may have arisen up to two weeks before the first complaint.

"With this in mind it is the intention to carry out investigations and monitoring from mid July 2004." The department has no direct control over spreading unless it can be proven there is a link between a specific nuisance and a specific farm.