Living with the smell from the Victoria Flats landfill - situated halfway between Queenstown and Cromwell - would ''simply be unbearable'' for Gibbston residents.
He had driven through the area 30 or 40 times in the past two months, and could ''count on the fingers of one hand'' the number of times he had not smelled it.
''The stench has been there for months, and it's so bad that anybody - not just local travellers but international travellers - would be revolted by it because it's so strong.''
The landfill, between the Victoria Bridge and Nevis Bluff, is owned by the Queenstown Lakes District Council and managed by contractor Scope Resources.
It takes waste from the Queenstown Lakes and Central Otago District Councils.
The smell has been dogging Gibbston residents for years.
The Gibbston valley, known for its many pinot noir vineyards and wineries, is dotted with expensive homes and guest lodges.
Gibbston Community Association chairman Craig Palmer told the Otago Daily Times on Monday the smell had been particularly bad in the past couple of weeks, and he was encouraging residents to complain to the regional council's pollution hotline.
Cr Laws said he had received ''numerous'' complaints about the smell from Gibbston residents and people who travelled through the area every day, including tourism operators.
He asked staff for an update on the issue more than a month ago, but had only been told the issue was being investigated.
He had asked for a written report at next Wednesday's regulatory committee that focused on the legal responsibilities and liabilities of operating the landfill.
He wanted to know ''why the ORC has been sitting on its hands and doing nothing, despite months of awareness that there's a problem''.
The regional council was quick to prosecute individuals who breached their consents, but ''allowed territorial authorities to get away with not doing their job'', he said.
His requests for reports on the council's processes for monitoring consents for wastewater, stormwater and landfills, and had been ''met by a deafening silence''.
The pollution hotline was ''absolutely useless'' because Queenstown Lakes and Central Otago residents had no confidence their complaints would be acted upon.
The regional council has received six complaints about the smell in recent weeks. The Queenstown Lakes District Council has received three since May, but could not say how many it had received this month to date.
The district council's contract manager, Laura Gledhill, said it had developed a daily odour monitoring programme for the landfill
and the results were compiled in monthly reports.
Scope Resources director Phil Dunstan did not respond to a request for comment.
