UK health watchdog says Walleys Quarry situation is unacceptable and must be resolved

The UK's top health watchdog says the impact from noxious fumes around a Newcastle landfill is unacceptable and must be urgently resolved.

Walleys Quarry in Silverdale has been at the centre of thousands of complaints over a number of years relating to foul smelling landfill emissions.

An inquiry chaired by a special committee at Newcastle Borough Council also gathered evidence around the impact the site is having on the health and wellbeing of residents.

Greatest Hits Radio News interviewed Katie Spence, the Regional Director for the UK Health Security Agency in the West Midlands.

She said: "We of course have dealt with other landfills; my team's remit is across the West Midlands, but I know that our national colleagues have dealt with them across England and it is fair to say that we have never seen a landfill that has behaved quite in this way.

"So there definitely is an element of exceptionality here." she said.

"Most of the landfills that we work with, I would say their issues are normally resolved in a fairly swift period of time and clearly we just haven't seen that here."

From 1st January to 31st July this year Newcastle Borough Council received 3,750 complaints about odours coming from the site in Silverdale, more than double the number received in the whole of 2023.

A huge fire also broke out at the site on 3rd August with residents asked to keep their windows and doors shut while firefighters worked to dampen it over several days. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

'Exceptional' UKHSA resources dealing with Walleys Quarry

Katie Spence continued: "We have me within the health protection team but colleagues that are the specialists come from our chemicals team and our toxicology team. We have representatives from three teams that have been working on this for the period since 2021. And it's exceptional.

"I also think what's exceptional here is the length of time that this has gone on and I think you can see that from our risk assessment summary, which really talks about our concern not only in terms of the short and potential for long term health impacts which can't be ruled out but the length of time that this has gone on" she said.

"It's a very protracted incident, so that is exceptional."

An unacceptable situation

Katie continued: "We all want the same outcome here. We all want this to be improved, we all want things to be different - including the Environment Agency - and we will keep asking that everything that should be done, is being done, must be done to improve that situation.

"The community has dealt with this for a considerable period of time now, that it is not acceptable. So we really do need to see that resolution."

A spokesperson from Walleys Quarry Ltd said: “The Landfill site holds an environmental permit and is stringently regulated by the Environment Agency to ensure the onsite activities do not cause harm to human health or the environment.

"The Management team recognise the impact that odours can have for local residents, and the team is focused on managing the site to minimise impacts to the community around the site and we will continue to do so."

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