On Thursday, April 25, residents were alarmed to find smoke billowing from land earmarked for development.

At the time, fire services attending the site on Amersham Road in Hazlemere found mixed rubbish on fire and told residents to "avoid breathing in any smoke".

The site is the location of a future housing development known as Pennwood Grange, owned by Bellway Homes. Homes are due to be built and ready by Winter 2024.

However, weeks after the fire was first seen, the site was still emitting thick smoke and the Buckinghamshire Fire Service said: "Exhaustive efforts were made to contain and mitigate the situation. We continuously monitored the site, working diligently through the night to ensure the safety of the area.

"After assessing the situation for any significant risk of fire spread, the incident was formally handed back to the private landowner on April 26.

"We recognise that concerns persist, and as such, we conducted a second inspection on May 1, reaffirming our findings of no significant risk of fire spread.

"The site now requires mechanical intervention to remove quantities of smouldering waste from the site. Moving forward, we are committed to collaborating with our partner agencies and the private landowner to expedite the clearance of the site."

Bellway Homes claim the fire was a result of "fly-tippers".

They said: "On visiting the site, it was confirmed that a large amount of waste had been illegally fly-tipped and set alight. Further inspections established that the site was unlawfully accessed by removing the large concrete barriers that were blocking entry."

Locals have since complained about nausea and headaches from the fumes - that lasted 28 days.

When asked by this newspaper if Bucks Council was monitoring the air quality, a spokesperson said the authority was not - and that the case has been referred to the Environment Agency.

READ MORE: New documents reveal CONTAMINATED WASTE is at Bellway site where fire rages on

Now Bellway Homes have contacted neighbours with an update.

In a letter seen by the Free Press dated May 29, Bellway Homes said: "As you may be aware, our contractor started clearance works last Friday, May 24 and we hope that this will be completed by the end of the week.

"Once the clearance works have finished, further contamination testing of the land will take place on June 3 and 4 to ensure the safety of the site moving forward, as well as enhanced security provisions, until we can place a contractor on site to start the development works.

"We once again thank residents, councillors an agencies for their continued cooperation whilst the works take place and hope that any impact will be minimal. We will provide a further update on all the necessary next steps once the clearance works have been completed."