Plea for landfill site legal action to be approved

Resident living near Walleys Quarry have long complained about smells coming form the site

The new Labour government has been asked to quickly approve legal action against landfill site operators for a suspected breach of an abatement notice.

Newcastle Borough Council believes Walleys Quarry Ltd has breached the notice by failing to properly control emissions from its Silverdale base.

But it needs the permission of Environment Secretary Steve Reed to take the action, as his department oversees regulator the Environment Agency (EA).

Council leader Simon Tagg has written to Mr Reed asking him to approve the authority’s request as soon as possible.

People living near the quarry have lodged high numbers of complaints for a number of years over smells coming from the site.

A statutory nuisance abatement notice was served by the council to the Staffordshire quarry in August 2021.

In March the EA ordered the site to stop taking new deliveries.

Two public meetings are to be held to discuss the on-going impact of complaints, next steps towards a resolution and whether there have been missed opportunities to resolve the issue.

"The fact remains that the problem has not gone away, residents still have this problem not only their doorsteps, or in their gardens, but inside their homes and we want to help in any way we can," Mr Tagg said.

In January, Mr Reed visited Walleys Quarry with Adam Jogee, who was elected as Newcastle’s new Labour MP last week.

At the time, Mr Reed said the landfill site "absolutely stinks" and vowed to demand answers from the Environment Agency over the time it was all taking.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said that Mr Reed would respond to the council’s letter ‘in due course’.

A spokesperson for Walleys Quarry said its site had a permit and was "stringently regulated" by the Environment Agency.

"We have consistently undertaken to continue our engagement with a range of stakeholders regarding the site," it said.

“Landfill plays a vital role in offering residual waste disposal supporting wider recycling services. The team is focused on managing the site to minimise impacts to community around the site and we will continue to do so.”

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.