Legal action over Walleys Quarry dropped after defendant company is liquidated

Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council has been forced to drop its £1m legal action against the operator of a landfill blamed for offensive odours after the company entered liquidation.

The council had been preparing legal action against Walleys Quarry for failing to properly control emissions in breach of a court-agreed abatement notice.

Council chief executive Gordon Mole said: “For legal reasons the action for breaching the abatement notice had to be against the site operator. Now that the company no longer exists, the action cannot continue.

“It is frustrating that we no longer have the opportunity to see the operator in court but when we initiated the legal action the site was fully operational and generating thousands of complaints from the community.”

The council served the abatement notice in August 2021 requiring Walleys Quarry to control the odour nuisance, but the company contested the notice.

It was eventually implemented in March 2023 and required the company not to create or allow statutory odour nuisance.

In April 2024 the council notified Walleys Quarry that it had failed to properly control odour emissions and that it was preparing legal action for which it set aside £1m for costs.

An appeal by Walleys Quarry against a closure notice issued by the Environment Agency in November has also been cancelled. This had been due to be heard by the Planning Inspectorate later this year,

The council said that since liquidation began the Environment Agency has been monitoring the site and overseeing essential remedial work.

Complaints about odours have fallen from 41 in March to 24 in April, compared with 1,620 in January when the site eras fully operational.

In July 2024, environment secretary Steve Reed told the council it could prosecute the operator as his consent was needed because he also oversees the Environment Agency, which regulated Walleys Quarry.

The council had complained that the agency had failed to adequately regulate the site. Council leader Simon Tagg said at the time: “We will pursue the legal action as quickly as possible, but it will be a complex, painstaking process which will take time.”

Mark Smulian