Council responds to Walleys Quarry legal ruling

Published: 4 February 2025

Image shows Council Leader Simon Tagg outside the gates at Walleys Quarry.
Council Leader Simon Tagg, pictured outside the gates at Walleys Quarry, wants the closure process speeding up to provide clarity for residents.

The Leader of Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council has responded to the news that the operator of Walleys Quarry has lost a legal bid to accept waste again.

The operator wanted to accept waste at the site until an appeal against the Environment Agency’s closure order can be heard later this year.

Simon Tagg, Leader of Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council, said:

The Environment Agency took a decision to serve a closure notice based on evidence built up over a long period of time, evidence which is going to be tested by the Planning Inspectorate in due course, so I am very relieved that this application failed.

 

Residents have reported their physical and mental suffering from the foul gas odours coming from this site for many years and the closure notice offered hope. What we need now is a permanent solution.”

He added:

The Planning Inspectorate is due to hear the operator’s appeal against the closure notice later this year and this council is throwing its weight behind the EA’s position and has applied to put forward additional evidence gathered by our officers.

 

Given that the operator has the right to challenge today’s ruling, it is clear now that the closure notice appeal should be heard as quickly as possible.

 

Two weeks ago I wrote to the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Steve Reed OBE to call on him to use his legal powers to call this matter in and reach a decision urgently, so that residents have clarity."