Council sends official complaint to EA over regulatory failure at Walleys Quarry
Further steps are being taken to try and resolve the ongoing and persistent issues with foul smells coming from the problem landfill site in Silverdale.
An official letter of complaint has now been submitted to the Head of the Environment Agency about his organisation’s failure to adequately regulate Walleys Quarry and stop the foul odours which have blighted the lives of residents across large parts of Newcastle.
The Council’s Cabinet resolved to ask the Council’s Chief Executive to draft a formal complaint to Sir James Bevan at its meeting last week.
Council Leader Simon Tagg, together with Staffordshire County Council, is also seeking an urgent meeting with the Secretary of State and DEFRA officials to discuss alternative interventions which could be made.
A report going to next week’s Full Council, on 23 February, advises members that in January 2022 – almost a year after the Council intervened and demanded urgent action following a weekend of particularly intense odours – air monitoring investigations showed that hydrogen sulphide concentrations from the site once again soared, with two weeks of foul smells and associated complaints.
The Environment Agency has since reviewed gas management data and while they believe contributing factors have been identified, and Walleys Quarry Ltd has been informed, it’s unable to provide details of this as the operator has 28 days to challenge the findings.
The Council received a total of 22,239 complaints about Walleys Quarry in 2021 – making up two thirds of the overall complaints for all environmental issues that year. It has served Walleys Quarry Ltd with a statutory nuisance abatement notice which is currently being appealed and is set for trial later this year. In the same period, the Environment Agency received 43,262 complaints.
Council Leader Simon Tagg said: “This situation is simply unacceptable and should not be allowed to continue. A year on we seem to be no closer to addressing the key question – when will this stink be stopped? The Environment Agency holds the responsibility for regulating the site and because of their continued failure we are lodging a formal complaint about the effectiveness of its regulatory approach.
“This incident remains, by some margin, the largest source of complaints received on any matter by the Council. Coming as it did almost one year since the exceptionally bad weekend for odour pollution in February 2021, the spike of hydrogen sulphide last month was particularly concerning. The risk to health is not ruled out due to the length of time that the levels were elevated which is why we need to take further action.
“The operator-led approach of managing landfill gas through a strategy of “contain, capture and destroy” remains in place but it leaves the community with no visibility on a credible plan to direct remediation of the problem. This in turn leaves no clarity on the issue of when the odours will stop to be a problem for residents. It’s still a massive issue which is causing a lot of misery.”
If the Council doesn’t get a satisfactory response to the complaint, it will be referred to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman for further action.
Last updated 15 February 2022