Community Relations Wearing Thin as Problems Continue Over Smell From Landfill.

North Staffs Green Party have been working with residents and campaign groups opposed to odour emissions from a landfill site.

 

There have been problems relating to emissions of hydrogen-sulphide and Methane gas from the Wally’s Quarry landfill site in Silverdale, which is operated by Red Industries.

 

The party worked with Dr Michael Salt, a chartered nuclear physicist living in the area, to conduct a public research poll over the past week, gathering data from 270 residents.

 

This North Staffs Green Party Coordinator Jade Taylor said had provided ‘a very clear picture of which areas are impacted and the levels of intensity’.

 

The survey showed the worst impact of unpleasant odours from the quarry was felt in Silverdale with 91.3% of respondents saying they were disgusted by the smell. Residents in Pool Dam (73.5%), the Westlands (66.7%) and Keele (55.3%) also complained about bad smells from the site.

 

The survey also revealed the emotional impact of living next to the quarry on residents, including a widow who had been unable to visit her husband’s grave in nearby Silverdale Cemetery due to the smell.

 

MS Taylor said this was ‘only one story of how the awful odour is proving to be detrimental on the surrounding communities’.

 

She added that with the possibility of a second lockdown there ‘pressing concerns’ about the impact the smell will have on the ‘physical and mental health’ of residents.

 

In a letter to Newcastle-under-Lyme MP Aaron Bell thanking him for raising the issue in parliament MS Taylor writes that the attitude of Red Industries towards concerns expressed by residents and their MP has been ‘aggressive and deflective’.

 

The party will be continuing to work with local communities to gather evidence and have reached out to Jo Maugham QC of the Good Law Project. It is understood that Mr Maugham has requested an introduction to assess the possibility of taking legal action.

 

MS Taylor said that despite the harmful impact on residents and the environment repeated breaches of regulations by Red Industries had ‘attracted no visible consequences, and therefore community relations are wearing thin’.