MP asked to provide Walleys Quarry support
Newcastle-under-Lyme’s MP has been urged to back his local council’s calls to close Walleys Quarry and for a public inquiry into the Environment Agency’s handling of the long-running gas odour problem
The request follows the Government’s rejection of an inquiry, saying that a hearing would ‘divert resources’ and that the Environment Agency continued to regulate the site robustly, while seeking ‘to improve and learn from experience’.
Now Simon Tagg, Leader of Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council, and Gordon Mole, the authority’s Chief Executive, have written jointly to MP Adam Jogee asking him to use his position to support the council.
Simon Tagg said:
The Walleys Quarry Committee of Inquiry, organised by the council in the summer, heard a wide range of evidence and was convinced that there is a case for a public inquiry into the Environment Agency’s conduct so that the lessons could be learned for the future.
However, to be told that the EA appears to have the full confidence of the Government, at a time when complaints about the terrible gas odours continue to pour in, is bewildering.
In light of the evidence collected by the Committee of Inquiry, we ask for Mr Jogee’s active support in both closing the site and urging the need, when the time is right, for this public inquiry to the relevant Ministers and to the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.”
Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council also wrote to the Office for Environment Protection (OEP) as the suitable body to conduct such an inquiry.
Although the OEP has commented publicly on the matter, it has not replied to the Council. Now Mr Jogee has also been asked to use his influence to have the organisation respond positively to the authority’s request.
The joint letter to the MP concludes:
Above all, the pressing need to achieve a positive and lasting outcome for residents will require our collective efforts and continued demand for action from both the operator and regulator to reach this conclusion.”
ends.
Notes to Editors
The Environment Agency is the principal regulator of the Walleys Quarry landfill site.
From January 1st 2024 to October 31st 2024, the Borough Council has received more than 4,300 odour complaints. With the exception of April and May, complaints every month this year have been higher than the corresponding month last year.
Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council is proceeding with legal action against Walleys Quarry Ltd for alleged breaches of an Abatement Notice, which obliges the operator to not create or allow statutory odour nuisance.