The Environment Agency has ordered Walleys Quarry landfill to close after years of complaints from residents over foul-smelling odours.
The regulator said it has concluded that management of Walleys Quarry is poor and that further operation of the site may result in significant, long-term pollution.
Walleys Quarry must stop accepting new waste from Friday 29 November and take measures to prevent landfill gas emissions from affecting the local community.
The Notice starts the process of permanently closing the landfill site in Newcastle-under-Lyme.
Environment Agency West Midlands Area Director Ian Jones said Walleys Quarry was given sufficient time to put in place effective measures to manage emissions and failed to do so.
Walleys Quarry is now required to permanently cap the remainder of the site and install further landfill gas management infrastructure.
Lorries will only be allowed to enter the site to bring in materials for the management infrastructure.
A spokesperson for Walleys Quarry said it will challenge the decision using all available options and claimed the Environment Agency has not “substantively engaged” with its factual and legal submissions.
The spokesperson also said Walleys Quarry rejects the Environment Agency’s conclusion that management of the landfill site is poor.
A “major step forward” for community
The local MP Adam Jogee said Walleys Quarry has caused “unacceptable harm” to Newcastle-under-Lyme and called the Closure Notice a “major step forward” for the community.
Leader of Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council Simon Tagg said for “far too long” the council has been urging the Environment Agency to act on behalf of a “community under siege”.
Tagg encouraged residents to carry on reporting foul-smelling odours caused by the site to the Council and the Environment Agency.
When asked how the decision affects the Council’s legal action against Walleys Quarry, Tagg said: “We remain committed to doing all we can to help residents within our powers and will take account of this evolving situation.”
Walleys Quarry has a right of appeal against the Closure Notice, which must be made within two months of the date the Notice is issued.
Since 2021, the Environment Agency said it has carried out over 180 inspections at the site when a typical landfill would be subject to four inspections each year.
