Campaigners await ruling on legal fight over Staffordshire landfill site
A three-day judicial review has been taking place at the High Court
Campaigners are waiting for a judge to rule on a legal fight over a Staffordshire landfill site said to be emitting noxious gases.
Lawyers representing five-year-old Mathew Richards say there is a "public health emergency" in the vicinity of Walleys Quarry in Silverdale, Newcastle-under-Lyme.
They say hydrogen sulphide emissions are affecting "hundreds and probably thousands" of people and want a judge to order the Environment Agency to take "effective measures" to remove the risk to Mathew's life.
Mr Justice Fordham finished hearing evidence at a High Court hearing in London on Friday and is expected to deliver a ruling in the near future.
Lawyers representing the Environment Agency argue there is not a real and immediate risk to Mathew's life.
Mathew's mother, Rebecca Currie, who lives half a mile from the site, has told how he was born prematurely with a chronic lung disease
She says if the site can be "capped off" Mathew would have a chance of "breathing fresh air".
Local people have launched a "Stop The Stink" campaign.
Barrister Ian Wise QC, who is leading Mathew's legal team, said the community was "in crisis".
Walleys Quarry, which is an "interested party" in the legal action, says, on its website, that it offers a "safe disposal method" for waste that cannot be otherwise re-used or re-cycled.