Bellhouse Landfill Site

We received 5 reports of malodour via the 24hr hotline in November

Officers completed a site inspection on 6 November 2024 and found the operator had made good progress on removing leachate from more than one area.

Odour monitoring in the local area was completed prior to entering the site.  We did not detect any odours attributed to landfilling activities  

Officers have continued to appraise management plans submitted for approval, which were required as a result of the permit audit earlier in the year.  The remaining documents are due to be submitted by the end of December 2024.

Walleys Quarry

We are aware that communities across the country may have been watching the developments at Walleys Quarry Landfill Site in Newcastle-under-Lyme with interest. Please see our briefing note below for more information about the site.

Walleys Quarry

Walleys Quarry Landfill Site is a high-profile active landfill site in Newcastle-under-Lyme operated by Walleys Quarry Ltd (WQL). The site is regulated by the Environment Agency through an environmental permit. Since early 2021, Walleys Quarry has been a site of high public, political and media interest due to air quality concerns and odour complaints.

The Environment Agency has concluded that the management of Walleys Quarry is poor and that further operation of the site may result in significant, long-term pollution.

The Environment Agency are satisfied that WQL has failed to demonstrate that it can exercise the appropriate level of control necessary to manage fugitive landfill emissions effectively, so that they do not have an adverse impact outside the site boundary therefore we issued WQL with a closure notice on 28 November 2024.    

A closure announcement was issued on 28 November 2024.

You can read more background to this on the Engagement Hub HQ page Walleys Quarry Landfill Site | Engage Environment Agency and on GOV.UK Environment Agency issues Closure Notice to Walleys Quarry Ltd - GOV.UK.

What does this mean for other problem landfill sites?

Why won’t you issue a Closure Notice at Bellhouse Landfill?

A Closure Notice is used as a last resort once all other enforcement options have been exhausted. Details of our current regulatory and enforcement activity can be found on the main site home page, and within the FAQ document.

Does this mean that the Environment Agency is now more likely to close down other problem landfill sites?

The Environment Agency has taken this decision about Walleys Quarry following years of regulatory and enforcement action. The EA deals with each local landfill site separately, considering a range of issues such as the permit of the site, history of compliance, and likelihood of long-term environmental damage. The decision taken at Walleys Quarry doesn’t affect decisions that may be made about the future operations of other sites.

We received 42 reports of malodour via the 24hr hotline in October. 

Works to remediate the waste slip earlier in the year were completed and the area backfilled with waste. 

Tipping commenced in cell 11B to the rear of the slip, to provide additional stabilisation

Capping activities had stopped due to poor weather, but the operators were confident that there was sufficient material available to use when they resume works.  We have urged the operators to prioritise capping as much as possible.

We received 37 malodour reports in September

 On 5 September we conducted a site inspection focusing on the gas extraction infrastructure, drilling works and potential fugitive emissions.  Our officers used hand held monitoring equipment and surveyed areas of the site including both permanent and temporary capping,  around gas wells and near to current tipping areas, all potential sources for fugitive emission, which if not contained effectively poses a risk of odour pollution.  

A distinct odour was detected near temporary capped areas and at the site of the waste slip. In addition we found odour in areas that currently do not have the gas collection system connected.  These areas were actively being worked so had moving vehicles.  If the gas extraction system which draws the gas out of the waste mass was connected and the pipework damaged by the moving vehicles, gas could be released, so for health and safety these areas are not connected until the section is finished.  The operators were notified of the findings and given actions to take to prevent or minimise fugitive emissions,  where practicable. 

Officers are reviewing a number of documents, including management plans for leachate and odour, and operational working instructions, which were submitted at the end of September. Once approved the management plans will form part of the operators overarching environmental management system (EMS) and will be referred to when assessing compliance.

 Work continues to remediate and stabilise the waste slip in cell 11a.  

We received 100 reports of malodour during August. The EA assessed and approved the report for the construction of the liner in Cell 11b, which means that Enovert could commence accepting and depositing waste in this area. The initial deposit of wastes in this area is intended to act as a stabilisation buttress for the slip that occurred in July. A site inspection 5th September 2024 found good progress being made on the remediation works. 

We have noted an increase in social media interest and that sections of inspection reports have been posted. It is worth noting that some of the extracts without the full text of the report, can be misleading and provide incorrect information.

We had a liaison meeting with local councillors, members of ECC and Enovert to discuss the most recent events.  Both ECC and Enovert agreed to provide a statement / update on current landfill activities.  The statement from Enovert covers current tipping operation, restoration and timescales for future operations.  The Essex County Council statement will be posted once received.

 Bellhouse Landfill Site - Community Update September 2024 Final (002) (002)

The next phase of installing sacrificial gas wells will be drilled in the coming weeks. The activity involves drilling into the waste, to install a pipe and gas control headworks. This action may release small amounts of gas and possibly a rotting waste odour on occasion, which unfortunately cannot be avoided.   Whilst we acknowledge that the potential for odour during these works can be disruptive to some people, the works are an important action. The duration of the works is limited and not constant. We will ensure the operator continues to use appropriate control measures during this time and that they are following their operating procedures.

A full permit audit, which assesses compliance with ALL conditions in the permit was completed in June.   If during an audit non compliances are identified the operators will be required to put measures in place to bring their site back into compliance.

We received 35 odour reports in June.

The site had 28 NIRS recorded for this month.

Environment Officers completed an odour survey on 7 June 2024 and did not detect any odour outside of the site.

Operators have continued applying the regulation layer of soils and temporary capping across Cell Number 10.

Tipping is now underway in Cell Number 11

44 reports of malodour received in April.

The site operator has confirmed that the following works to help reduce the likelihood of maldodours have been completed since our last update:

• 21 permanent gas collection wells were installed in cell 10, this is an increase on the planned 10 wells.
• In addition, a gas collection system has also been installed horizontally in the flank (sides) of cell 9 and10. Cell 10 was the most recent and highest cell being filled. This area is a slope which falls into cell 11, the next operational cell and therefore will have waste placed up against it. Therefore to reduce the potential for gas migration out of the sides during this time, shallow perforated pipes known as scavenger wells have been installed to capture gas that is not caught by the permanent wells.
• All wells as mentioned have been connected to the gas extraction system, with the gas being used to generate electricity in the gas engines.
• A regulation layer of soils is being applied to large areas of the site  (This is like the blinding layer that is put under a pond liner, to stop the liner being punctured by sharp objects).  This a pre curser to laying a permanent cap of clay.

Tipping is now underway in cell 11 which is the lowest part of the site and furthest from residential properties.

The operators are now conducting additional odour checks in the area, in response to reports received via the 24hr hotline, and checking their infrastructure out of hours.

In March the operator started installing essential gas collection infrastructure.  The activity involves drilling into the waste, to install a pipe and gas control headworks. This action can release small amounts of gas and possibly a rotting waste odour on occasion, which unfortunately cannot be avoided. They are installing 10 gas wells, 3 of which were completed by Monday 25 March 2024 and are under active gas extraction.

We will continue to update on this.