Brendola, a small town of around 4,000 people in northern Italy, is putting together a team of six “odour evaluators” following complaints from local residents about bad smells, The Guardian reports.

Over six months, team members will be despatched to specific areas, where they will be expected to have a good sniff and record their perceptions in a dedicated app.

Mayor Bruno Beltrame said: “We did a similar investigation about five years ago in an industrial area close to where the bad smells are coming from now.

“From that, we were able to identify the companies emitting the odours.

“Now we are broadening the geographical scope to find out if the same companies have resumed the release of bad smells or if there are different ones.”

He added: “We have a lot of protocols in place, and if businesses break the rules they are heavily fined.”

Dozens of people have already applied for the posts, which have proved popular with university students in particular, according to the mayor.