Walleys Quarry Landfill: hydrogen sulphide monitoring

Joint statement from Staffordshire County Council Public Health, UK Health Security Agency and Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Integrated Care Board

On 5 October 2023, the Environment Agency published concerns about the accuracy of their hydrogen sulphide monitors around the Walleys Quarry landfill site. This means that we cannot rely on this data to assess the risk to people’s health. The risk of long-term health problems is likely to be small but cannot be excluded at this stage. We know that some people continue to experience short term health effects. Advice for residents affected by the odour from landfill gas can be found on the Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council and Staffordshire County Council websites.

Health partners continue to recommend that all appropriate measures are taken to reduce the off-site odours from the landfill site, to reduce the health impacts experienced in the local community and maintain concentrations in the local area to levels that we can be confident do not pose long term risks to health.