The stench from Walleys Quarry in Silverdale, Staffs, has been a long-term problem with more than 1,000 complaints about whiffs of ‘bad eggs’ and ‘dirty nappies’ made every month
Residents of “Britain’s smelliest village” say the stench that’s haunted them for a decade was “worse than ever” during the festive season.
People living near Walleys Quarry in Silverdale, Staffordshire, have been kicking up a stink about the foul whiff emanating from the nearby landfill site for years.
With over 1,000 complaints lodged nearly every month for over 10 years, villagers are at their wits’ end with fumes that reek of “bad eggs” or “dirty nappies” causing illness and drastically impacting their quality of life.
Despite the Environment Agency slapping a Closure Notice on the quarry, demanding it stop taking new waste as of November 29, locals claim the odour over Christmas only intensified to unprecedented levels.
The increase in fog is thought to be partly to blame, trapping hydrogen sulphide – the chemical behind the nasty niffs – closer to the ground.
Jenny Taylor, a 31-year-old mother of two, said: “It’s the worst I’ve known it, it makes you feel sick to the stomach when you step outside.
“We thought we might have turned a corner when they ordered it to close, but the opposite has happened. It has made the festive period unbearable at times.
“You do lose hope after all this time, most of us have sort of learned to put up with it, but when it’s this bad you just can’t ignore it.”
Another said: “You’re just left sort of trapped in your home, not wanting to go out.”
While local, Dawn Booth, 57, described the situation to the BBC as akin to an “eggy, foul and awful Christmas present.”
She said: “I came into my porch and I thought my husband had left the poo bags for the dogs.
“No-one seems to care that it makes us feel sick.”
Lee-Bernadette Walford, 55, also expressed her distress: “It has been horrendous.”
“I went out on Boxing Day to see a few people, they were saying all day it’s worse than ever.”
Locals have previously reported that the nasty smell is so acrid it burns the back of the throat, with others suffering headaches, asthma attacks, stress, anxiety, and sleeplessness.
The Environment Agency (EA) typically inspects sites like Walley’s Quarry around 10 times a year; however, Walley’s Quarry has seen more than 180 inspections in four years.
The quarry faced a closure notice in November when the EA identified a risk of “significant long-term pollution”. The owners of The Walleys Quarry Ltd landfill are currently appealing against the EA decision and have denied allegations of mismanagement.
A Walleys Quarry spokesperson said: “We have received a closure notice from the Environment Agency.
“We are clear that keeping the site open delivers the greatest benefit and sustainability for the site. We will challenge this decision using all available options.
“Walleys Quarry has made extensive factual and legal submissions to the Environment Agency which in our view they have not substantively engaged with.
“As a business we completely reject the accusations made by the Environment Agency relating to poor management of the landfill site.”
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