Walleys Quarry Landfill Site - Latest Update

Overview

The Environment Agency has launched an investigation into alleged illegal waste activities at sites operated by Walleys Quarry Limited and Red Industries Limited. This is ongoing. We are unable to provide further information or updates at this time.

We want to encourage anyone that holds any information pertinent to this investigation, to contact us confidentially on 0800 80 70 60.

What this Citizen Space site contains

To help everyone access information in the easiest way possible, from June 2021 we have two webpages: a latest update page and a community information page

Latest Update page

This Latest Update page shares our latest updates in relation to the Walleys Quarry Landfill Site, located at Cemetery Road, Silverdale, Newcastle under Lyme

This page contains only the most up to date information, key messages and community events about the site.

Please Note: We are working hard to ensure all reports and complaints in relation to Walleys Quarry are responded to as quickly as possible, and understand the distress felt by the local community. However, we will not tolerate inappropriate behaviour to our staff that is either threatening, abusive or violent.

Please see our Unacceptable Customer Behaviour – Position Statement which sets out what customers can expect from us. In return we ask that customers respect our staff.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/552592/LIT_10503.pdf

You have our assurance that we are doing our best to deal with every enquiry.

Community information page

You can find our previous updates and historical information on Walleys Quarry on our Community information page here. This page provides all the background and contains our previous updates about the site, historical information and related technical documents.

Contents:

1. Latest news this month on our regulatory work

2. Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

3. Community engagement

4. How we are working with others to regulate the site

5. Air Quality Monitoring update

6. Health update

7. How to contact us

1. Latest news on our regulatory work 

The Environment Agency has prepared this weekly update to help the community of Newcastle-under-Lyme and the wider area keep informed about developments concerning its regulation of Walleys Quarry Landfill.     

 Walleys Quarry Ltd is the operator of the landfill site and it alone is responsible for the hydrogen sulphide emissions escaping from the site. 

The Environment Agency is the environmental regulator. We require Walleys Quarry Ltd to meet its environmental obligations and resolve the ongoing odour issues at the landfill as quickly as possible.      

News in brief – 26 May 2022     

Regulatory activity

Our officers have been on site every day this week as part of regulatory work to ensure effective delivery of our plan to ‘contain, capture and destroy’ landfill gas from the site, including site inspections.

Walleys Quarry Ltd has contractors on site carrying out permanent capping works.  So far 6,000m² of the planned 26,000m² has been capped, approximately 23% of the total. We continue to monitor the works and assess implementation of the construction plan. Waste deposits have commenced in Phase 3 following agreement of a management plan to capture the gas from that phase.

The average gas collection value for the last 4 weeks is 3020 m³/hr.  As the extraction is balanced, only small fluctuations in extraction rates have occurred. The additional capture of gas should lead to lower emissions of landfill gas to ambient air and reduce the negative experience of odour in the community.

Facebook live session

We held our first live Facebook Q&A at 4.30pm on Wednesday 25 May 2022. Many thanks to everyone who sent in questions for the session. If we didn’t get to your question, we will endeavour to cover it in a future Q&A. You can join the Facebook group and watch the recording here

Reporting odour 

It is important that you continue to report odour to us. Reports from local people, along with our regulatory visits and monitoring from our mobile monitoring facilities help to create a picture which informs our enforcement and regulatory approach.  

 The easiest and quickest way to make a report is via GOV.UK at: https://report-walleys-quarry-smell.service.gov.uk/     

If you do report odour to us via our incident hotline, please be courteous to our staff. They are working to deal with your reports as efficiently as possible.  

 Latest hydrogen sulphide levels 

Our Ambient Air Monitoring Team continues to check air quality around Walleys Quarry landfill. It does this through a network of mobile monitoring stations (MMFs) that are positioned in communities around the site. These check for levels of hydrogen sulphide and methane, which are indicators of odour pollution.    

The chart below contains a summary of the raw data collected from our ambient air mobile monitoring facilities (MMFs) in the period 16 May – 22 May 2022.

Levels of hydrogen sulphide during this week remained below the World Health Organisation’s 24-hour average health guideline level (150µg/m3 or 107ppb) to protect against short-term health effects.  They were slightly higher than levels seen last week at two locations.

We do expect to see short term fluctuations in the concentrations of hydrogen sulphide leaving the site. The causes can include factors such as the temporary impact of improvement works being carried out on site and changes in the weather.   Odours associated with landfill gas emissions will increase during colder weather and still wind conditions. With less ability to disperse, the potential for causing odour nuisance is greater.    

By contrast, in warmer weather the gases are naturally more diluted due to higher temperatures and rising air. This means improvements from measures implemented at Walleys Quarry Landfill to reduce odour could be less noticeable around this time of year. However, it is important to note that despite short term spikes, the overall trend in the levels of hydrogen sulphide concentrations in the ambient air continues to reduce.     

Odour Reports  

In the week 16-22 May 2022, the Environment Agency received a total of 134 odour reports from local people. This is a decrease compared to the previous week. The peak day was on 19 May, when we received 31 reports. 

Correspondence  

Other than by means of the Facebook Group mentioned above, we are unable to answer questions through social media. If you have a question you can email us.

 Other sources of information      

UK Health Security Agency public health messages and advice about the effects of odours from Walleys Quarry landfill are available online via Staffordshire County Council’s website:  Frequently asked questions about the health effects of odours and emissions from Walleys Quarry: - Staffordshire County Council     

 Walleys Quarry Ltd website:  https://walleysquarry.co.uk  

2. Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

We understand that you may have questions regarding landfills and how they work as well as more specific questions concerning this site.

We have put together a document that includes FAQs from your community concerning Walleys Quarry and generic landfill information that covers a wider range of questions from odour to pests. We hope this will be able to reassure and answer any questions that you may have about the site. The document can be viewed here.

To complement the FAQs we are sharing the top questions each month that you have asked us formally as well as our timeline and plan.

Timeline and our plan

The timeline shows the site’s history and our regulation so that you can understand our actions to date. You can view the timeline here.

The Environment Agency’s plan to achieve the required reductions in H2S emissions is available to view here

Top questions - January 2022

Question One: Why was our community representative not invited to the Walleys Liaison Committee meeting with Walleys Quarry Ltd?

Walleys Quarry Ltd is responsible for organising these liaison meetings, including the attendance list.

If you have questions about Walleys Liaison Committee meetings, you can contact Walleys Quarry Ltd with your enquiry at:

https://walleysquarry.co.uk/#contact

Minutes from previous meetings can be found on the Walleys Quarry Ltd website at:

https://walleysquarry.co.uk/#information

Question Two: I am concerned that my area is not recognised in your monitoring reports. Please can you explain why?

Our monthly Air Quality Monitoring Reports provide residents with updates on the data collected by our Mobile Monitoring Facilities (MMFs) at fixed locations around the Walleys Quarry Landfill Site. The location of the monitoring equipment adjacent to a permitted site is always a balance of a number of practical and technical factors. These include predominant wind direction, topography, permission to use land, power supplies, other sources of pollutants, security, mobile phone signal, and the number of complaints. However, this does not mean that we do not carry out odour assessments in other locations in the area.

The Environment Agency takes all reports we receive very seriously. Please be assured that each odour report submitted by the residents of Newcastle-Under-Lyme is recorded and taken into consideration. The Environment Agency’s priority remains ensuring that the operator, Walleys Quarry Ltd, takes effective action to secure sustained reduction in hydrogen sulphide emissions from its site. We are determined to tackle the problems at Walleys Quarry, as we have been throughout.

Question Three: What are you doing about heavy goods vehicles parked illegally on the brow of the hill near to Walleys Quarry?

Parking and vehicle movements outside the site boundary are not controlled by the environmental permit issued by the Environment Agency.

You may wish to consult the Staffordshire County Council website here: https://www.staffordshire.gov.uk/Highways/Parking-and-enforcement/On-Street-Parking/Problem-parking/Report-problem-parking/Report-problem-parking.aspx 

You can find more information on the County Council’s role at Walleys Quarry by visiting:
https://www.staffordshire.gov.uk/Care-for-all-ages/Publichealth/Walleys-Quarry/Walleys-Quarry.aspx

Question Four: Why is gas still escaping from the site and causing an odour nuisance now that all the wells have been installed?

We do expect to see short term fluctuations in the concentrations of hydrogen sulphide leaving the site. The causes can include factors such as the temporary impact of improvement works being carried out on site and changes in the weather.

Odours associated with landfill gas emissions will increase during colder weather and still wind conditions. With less dispersion, the potential for causing odour nuisance is greater. This means improvements from measures implemented at Walleys Quarry Landfill to reduce odour could be less noticeable around this time of year.

The measures put in place to resolve the odour issue are being carried out in accordance with the programme set out in the published plan. These measures are designed to secure the effective resolution of the problem as soon as reasonably possible. It is not possible to precisely predict the effect that each individual step we have required Walleys Quarry Ltd to take will have.

Over the first two weeks of January, spikes in hydrogen sulphide levels were identified around the site. This led to an increase in odour complaints from the public. We believe that we have identified the contributing factors for the increased odour during this period and have informed Walleys Quarry Ltd of our findings. The company has 28 days from notification to challenge these. We are unable to provide any further information before this period expires.

Since mid-January, we have continued to see a reduction in hydrogen sulphide levels at each of the MMFs around the site. 

If after referring to this page and the documents you would still like to ask a question please attend one of our community engagement events or email us Enquiries_Westmids@environment-agency.gov.uk to let us know.

3.Community engagement

We continue to hold a variety of community engagement events to ensure you understand what action we are taking and to have an opportunity to ask questions.

For information on engagement by multi agency partners please see Section 4 of this page.

Drop-in session in December

Our multi-agency drop in session took place on Thursday 1 December at the council offices in Newcastle Under Lyme. Some local residents who have been impacted by the landfill site turned out to speak to us – many thanks to those who attended for your comments and feedback.

This event was for residents, business owners and community members who are affected by the landfill site. Attendees could speak directly to senior officers from the Environment Agency, Staffordshire County Council, the UK Health Security Agency (formerly Public Health England), Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council and Staffordshire Police.

There were no fixed presentation or speeches, and attendees could drop-in at any time during the opening hours and speak directly to representatives of the councils and agencies at different tables. Numbers in the hall were monitored to avoid over-crowding and other Covid-related measures were in place to ensure the health and well-being of all those attending.

Recent community engagement

We’ve recently been out in the Knutton and Poolfields areas door knocking to talk to local people about our regulation of Walleys Quarry and to hear about and understand the impact of the landfill on daily lives.

We’re knocking doors randomly, and are not purposely picking some and avoiding others. If the resident is out, we’ll pop a note through the letterbox to say we called. We will not ask to come in at any point, and it’s ok to not want to talk to us. We will be out in other areas in the coming weeks.

Future community engagement

We continue to work with multi-agency partners to plan the next steps for more community engagement, including further drop in events to ensure you understand what action we are taking and to have an opportunity to ask questions. 

Dates and details will be announced on this page and released in the latest update. Future sessions will be dependent on COVID restrictions and guidance at the time.

Previous community engagement

Multi-agency partners face to face drop ins

We were really pleased to see lots of you at the multi-agency events on 5 October 2021 and 12 October 2021.  

All organisations valued the opportunity to have face to face conversations, to be able to hear from you, the concerns and experiences you have had and for us to be able to explain what we are continuing to do in dealing with this situation.

Multi-agency virtual engagement sessions

The multi-agency virtual engagement sessions held on 23 June 2021 and 3 August 2021 were with representatives from the Environment Agency, Public Health England (now UK Health Security Agency), Staffordshire County Council and Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council and the North Staffordshire Clinical Commissioning Group (who represent GPs in the area).

Community engagement session - 3 August 2021

• Transcript
• Audio

Community engagement session -  23 June 2021

• Transcript
• Audio

Environment Agency virtual engagement sessions

Our virtual meetings were an opportunity for the community to hear an update on Environment Agency actions and next steps first hand as well as having the opportunity to ask us questions which might include our regulation, the work we have told Walleys Quarry Ltd to carry out, etc.

Community engagement session - 9 June 2021

• Transcript
• Audio  
• Slido responses 

Community engagement session - 26 May 2021

• Transcript
• Audio
• Slido responses

4. How we are working with others to regulating the site

Multi agency response

Over a number of years, we have been working with partners to address local community concerns about Walleys Quarry Landfill. We have put in place and are supporting a multi-agency response to deal with the current odour issues. This includes working with the Local Resilience Forum that also help coordinate regulatory, engagement and communication responses. This ensures different issues are tackled in coordinated way across multiple partners, each with different responsibilities. They include:

• The Environment Agency
• Staffordshire County Council
• Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council
• UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA - formerly Public Health England)

Engagement by multi agency partners

For media statements and community engagement events held by multi agency partners please see informationa and links below:

Tuesday 6 July from 5.30pm to 7.00pm

The Strategic Coordinating Group (SCG) of Staffordshire Resilience Forum agencies will be holding a virtual community engagement event on Tuesday 6 July from 5.30pm to 7.00pm. Representatives from the Environment Agency, Public Health England (now UKHSA), the NHS, and officers from Staffordshire County Council and Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council will be taking part. An update on the situation, the impact on health, and progress on actions being taken to reduce the air pollution will be given, followed by an opportunity for people to ask questions. People can log on at https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/8137051666089376524 

Walleys Quarry Liaison Meetings

We also attend regular community liaison meetings that are facilitated by the operator Walleys Quarry Ltd. and are part of their planning permission issued by Staffordshire County Council.

Further information

If you would like to find out more about these meetings including the meeting notes please follow the link below: https://www.redindustries.co.uk/walleys-landfill-community/

If any further residents are interested in joining these meetings to represent the community or would like to ask Walleys Quarry Ltd any questions please email: enquiries@redindustries.co.uk

5. Air Quality Monitoring

Picture 1: Galingale View- Air Quality monitoring specialist mobile monitoring

We are committed to regularly sharing the results from our air quality monitoring that we have underway around the site.

Towards the end of February 2021, we installed two specialist mobile monitoring facilities, located at Galingale View and Silverdale pumping station.

We also agreed with partners to install a further two, to support our multi-agency response to the issues at Walleys Landfill.  On Friday 23 April 2021, we installed these ust off Cemetery Road.

The mobile monitoring facilities are purposely placed in areas where we observe landfill gas, taking account of local geography, and available power supplies. They are funded by the Environment Agency to support our regulatory work but as they can also be used to provide information to health professionals to make health assessments, two are partly funded by Newcastle under Lyme Borough Council and Staffordshire County Council. The mobile monitoring facilities began collecting data at the beginning of March 2021 and we expect to continue till March 2022 or further if required.

Monitoring and data 

The units monitor parameters related to landfill gas, including methane (CH4), particulates (PM), sulphur dioxide (SO2) and hydrogen sulphide (H2S) - this is the one that smells like rotten eggs.  The units also have the capacity to collect weather data, which is important in determining how gases and odours travel and disperse in the environment.   

Data from the units have been collated into monthly reports which we share with UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA - formerly Public Health England) to provide expert opinion on any human health impacts.

The data has been used to assess the type, time and nature of the emissions from the site.  We have also shared this information with Staffordshire County Council and Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council, which is vital for us to tackle the issues of odour coming from the operations of the Landfill. 

Air quality monitoring reports 

We provide various reports and sets of data that is publicly available and we want to clearly explain how and when these will be produced.  

Exceedance Report

If the levels of hydrogen sulphide exceed the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) guideline level for health impacts (this is recorded over a 24hr average) we will inform all partners immediately and produce report within 48hrs. Public Health England will be immediately informed so advice can be issued from our public health partners Staffordshire County Council. We call this an Exceedance Report. We have not had to issue one of these since the very high levels of hydrogen sulphide were recorded in March.

Weekly Summary Report

We produce Weekly Summary Reports that sets out the percentage of time each monitoring station has spent above:

• The WHO guideline level for health impacts for hydrogen sulphide (this is recorded over a 24hr average)  
• The WHO’s guideline level for odour annoyance for hydrogen sulphide (30 minute average).

This is shared with UK Health Security Agency (formerly Public Health England) and we publish these on these web pages.  

Monthly Air Quality Report

We produce a Monthly Air Quality Report which provides information on the data recorded. This is also published on these webpages along with the UKHSA report: UKHSA Health Risk Assessment Air Quality Monitoring.

Final Report

At some point (to be detetmined by partners and what is happening at the landfill), we will produce a Final Report which will provide a detailed assessment.

Task Specific Analysis

We are also using the data to identify trends, correlate the data with weather patterns, look at the time and day of increases (and decreases), weather analysis and if certain activities on the site or in the local area, contribute to the issues. This is ongoing internal work and used to inform our regulatory activities. These will be included in our Final Report if appropriate.

The Environment Agency conducts all its monitoring and data handling using approved standards and methodologies and is externally audited. As a result, the data we use in our reports is called ‘rectified data’. This is data that is has had calibrations applied and some basic quality assurance checking carried out but it is still likely to change once calibrations are applied to the full data set at the end of the study. This is a standard approach that needs to be taken when conducting highly sensitive air quality monitoring.

Environment Agency – Study of Ambient Air Quality at Silverdale, Interim Report 1 – March to September 2021

We have produced a report looking at the air quality data that we have collected at the four mobile monitoring facilities (MMF’s) that are deployed in Silverdale. The report, called “Environment Agency – Study of Ambient Air Quality at Silverdale, Interim Report 1 – March to September 2021”, identifies the local sources of hydrogen sulphide and quantifies the environmental impact of the emissions from these sources on the surrounding area and the local community.

A copy of the report is available at the hyperlink below and further reports will be prepared during 2022 as more data is collected.

Environment Agency – Study of Ambient Air Quality at Silverdale, Interim Report 1 – March to September 2021

April 2022

UKHSA Health Risk Assessment Air Quality Monitoring Report - April 2022

March 2022

UKHSA Health Risk Assessment Air Quality Monitoring Report - March 2022

Monthly Air Quality Report - March 2022

Silverdale air quality data set: please note this covers March 2021 to March 2022

February 2022

Monthly Air Quality Report - February 2022

UKHSA Health Risk Assessment Air Quality Monitoring Report - February 2022

January 2022

Monthly Air Quality Report - January 2022

UKHSA Health Risk Assessment Air Quality Monitoring Report - January 2022

December 2021

UKHSA Health Risk Assessment Air Quality Monitoring Report - December 2021

Monthly Air Quality Report - December 2021

November 2021

UKHSA (formerly PHE) Health Risk Assessment Air Quality Monitoring Report - November 2021

Monthly Air Quality Report -  November 2021

October 2021

UKHSA (formerly PHE) Health Risk Assessment Air Quality Monitoring report - October 2021

Monthly Air Quality Report - October 2021

September 2021

UKHSA (formerly PHE) Health Risk Assessment Air Quality Monitoring report - September 2021

Monthly Air Quality Report - September 2021

August 2021

UKHSA (formerly PHE) Health Risk Assessment Air Quality Monitoring report - August 2021

Monthly Air Quality Report - August 2021

July 2021

Monthly Air Quality Report - July 2021

PHE Health Risk Assessment Air Quality Monitoring July 2021 

June 2021

Monthly Air Quality Report - June 2021

PHE Health Risk Assessment Air Quality Monitoring June 2021

May 2021

Monthly Air Quality Report - May 2021

PHE Health Risk Assessment Air Quality Monitoring May 2021

April 2021

Monthly Air Quality Report - April 2021

PHE Health Risk Assessment Air Quality Monitoring April 2021

Previous Air Quality Monitoring (2017-19)

We have previously installed specialist air quality monitoring equipment in 2018 and 2019 to enable us to further understand the potential impact on air quality from Walleys Quarry landfill site.

This equipment was installed on:

6 July 2017 - 14 February 2018 on the pumping station off Silverdale Road

15 January 2019 - 25 June 2019 near the northern boundary of the site, on the grounds of Garner’s Garden Centre
 Summaries of the previous air quality monitoring reports are available to view below and full reports can be provided on request.

Walleys quarry report summary 2019

Walleys quarry report summary 2017-2018

The Public Health England (PHE) response to the Air Quality Monitoring carried out in 2017-2019 is linked here.

6. Health update

It is important to note, that it is not our role and we are not qualified to give health advice to the public.  If residents have health concerns our advice is to speak to their local GP.  The local authority’s Environmental Health Department and Public Health England will be able to provide appropriate advice to local GP’s.  Both organisations are represented on the Walley’s Quarry local liaison group.

7. How to contact us