Landfill stench prompts 700 complaints in a day

The regulator of a landfill site where noxious gases give off a foul stench has said it has received more than 760 complaints in one day.

Walleys Quarry in Silverdale, Staffordshire, was served a closure notice in November after the Environment Agency (EA) said there was a risk of "significant long-term pollution".

Some residents have linked pollution there to instances of ill health in the area, leading to years of protests, legal rows and EA scrutiny.

The site has since launched an appeal against the EA's move and remains open, with some neighbours saying the stink is now worse than ever. The BBC has contacted the firm that runs the quarry for comment.

The EA said that as of midday Monday, it was aware of more than 760 complaints on Friday, with more data still to be processed.

Lee Bernadette Walford, from the Stop the Stink campaign group, said: "We've had the second highest number of complaints in the first week of January essentially since 2022.

"So instead of people having some relief over Christmas and new year, it's back off the scale again, which is just absolutely dreadful."

She stated "this is a public health emergency".

"I do believe that residents should be getting evacuated from this area, starting with the children and the most vulnerable and then the rest of us."

A mile and a half away, businesses in Newcastle-under-Lyme town centre said noxious odours as bad as ever were driving away customers.

Bridge Street Ale House landlord Graham Newbury stated: "It's got worse as of late.

"Last weekend was horrendous, so I had to put scented candles around the bar. Even the pub cellar smelt."

The Hopwater Cellar landlord Craig Armstrong said: "It affects ourselves working in the bar, but also the customers come in, they sit down, they don't want to be smelling that.

"You can't have the door open, because that's where it's coming from, so it's just absolutely horrendous."

In a Facebook group for workers at nearby Royal Stoke Hospital, staff complained that last Friday the smell reached an operating theatre.

An Environment Agency spokesperson said it continued to actively regulate Walleys Quarry Ltd (WQL) and expected odour outside the site to reduce "as the additional gas infrastructure and capping required by our Closure Notice are completed".

WQL was "making progress with this work", the agency added.

The EA stated it was "acutely aware" of recent substantial odour around Walleys Quarry, knew this had impacted many within the community and had "every sympathy" with those who had been affected.

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