Council asking for government approval to start legal action against Walleys Quarry

Newcastle Borough Council says it's going to ask the government for permission to start legal action against a controversial landfill site.

Earlier this month Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council said it notified Walleys Quarry Ltd, a subsidiary of Red Industries Ltd, that they'd failed to properly control emissions from the landfill in Silverdale and that it was considered in breach of a court-granted Abatement Notice.

Now, the authority says they've been provided detailed advice from a King’s Counsel (KC) outlining that the Borough Council must ask permission of the Secretary of State for the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) to take the legal action.

Simon McEneny, Interim Chief Executive of Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council, said: “The terms of the Abatement Notice say that we need the permission of the Secretary of State to take the next step in bringing legal action.

“Therefore we will be writing to the Hon Steve Barclay MP in the next few days to request he grants that permission as quickly as possible so that we can continue preparing the case against the site operators for creating or allowing statutory odour nuisance.”

In August 2021, the Borough Council served an Abatement Notice against Walleys Quarry Ltd, requiring it to control the smell nuisance caused by landfill operations.

The landfill operators contested the action, but dropped the appeal following mediation and the Abatement Notice became enforceable in March 2023.

Accepting that the landfill had been a source of ‘community complaint’, the company agreed it must control odour problems by ‘the best practicable means’ and to publicise information about what was happening there.

How have Walleys Quarry Ltd responded?

A spokesperson for Walleys Quarry Ltd said:

“Walleys Quarry Ltd would urge Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council to reconsider any proposed legal action. We instead ask them to discuss their concerns with us as part of our ongoing collaborative efforts to see the best outcomes for the community. We refute these allegations and should the council proceed, we will of course consider our response under the advice of our legal team.

“WQL has made demonstrable, substantial and sustained progress in our capping programme as well as with efforts to minimise emissions from the site as we continue to use Best Practicable Means with the eventual objective of ceasing landfill operations and completing restoration onsite.”

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