Landfill closure absolutely amazing - campaigner

Rebecca Currie said she did not think the site would ever be closed

A campaigner who claimed fumes from a landfill near her home had affected the health of her young son has said its closure is "absolutely amazing".

Walleys Quarry in Silverdale, Staffordshire, was issued a closure notice preventing it from accepting new waste from Friday.

The site has been at the centre of a years-long legal row over emissions, smell, and its impact on local residents.

Rebecca Currie's son, Matthew, had breathing difficulties due to being born prematurely with chronic lung disease and Ms Currie said the noxious gases from the landfill made his symptoms worse.

She previously took legal action over the matter.

"I never thought this day was going to happen," said Ms Currie.

"We fought and fought for years, and to get a phone call... that this was closing was amazing."

A spokesperson for the site's operator, Walleys Quarry Ltd, confirmed it had received the closure notice from the Environment Agency (EA) and said the firm would challenge it.

Walleys Quarry must stop accepting new waste at the site from Friday

Ms Currie was among dozens of campaigners and locals who gathered at the gates of the landfill on Thursday evening to watch a steady stream of lorries leave the site.

"Our community have suffered. We've got kids who are really poorly, people have moved homes," she told BBC Midlands Today.

"It's disgusting, it is a poorly-run landfill, end of."

The EA said it had concluded that management of the landfill site was "poor" and that further operation could result in "significant long-term pollution".

However, a spokesperson for Walley's Quarry said it rejected the accusations from the EA relating to poor management.

“The notice is the first step towards permanently closing the Newcastle-under-Lyme site," the EA added.

"We have every sympathy with the local community and our decision to issue a closure notice demonstrates our commitment to doing all we can to resolve the problem of fugitive landfill gas emissions from the site."