Issue - meetings
WALLEYS QUARRY ODOUR UPDATE
Meeting: 09/01/2025 - Cabinet (Item 3)
3 WALLEYS QUARRY ODOUR UPDATE 
PDF 444 KB
Additional documents:
- Appendix 1 - Historical Complaint Data (1), item 3
PDF 286 KB
- Appendix 2 - Percentage exceedance above the WHO odour annoyance guideline value, item 3
PDF 135 KB
- Appendix 3 - NULBC KPI December 2024, item 3
PDF 425 KB
- Appendix 4 - EA Letter to Interested Parties, item 3
PDF 184 KB
Decision:
(i) That the contents of this update report be noted.
(ii) That the request for the Council to be a principal party in the appeal process as set out in section 2 of this report, be noted.
(iii) That, If participation on the terms set out in recommendation 2 is agreed by the Planning Inspectorate, the participation of the Council in that process be endorsed.
Minutes:
The Leader introduced the report on Walleys Quarry sharing that the operator had appealed the closure notice issued by the Environment Agency.
The Chief Executive presented the report including the latest complaints data and next steps in the context of the appeal process.
Members raised questions and responses were provided as follows.
The Deputy Leader enquired about paragraph 2.2.1 of the report, noting that the odours seemed to have got worse since the closure notice six weeks ago.
The Chief Executive advised that the Environment Agency had set a timetable for the operator with activities to complete within a set timeframe. The Council would continue to monitor activities and encourage residents to report incidents.
Cllr Fear emphasized the importance of optimizing the data and evidence collected by officers along with working closely with the Environment Agency.
The Leader asked if the Council was keeping monitoring for further breaches of the abatement notice since the one recorded in Spring 2024 and would these be noticed if they would be communicated to the operator as part of the legal action as well as to the public.
The Chief Executive confirmed that it was indeed the case along with making sure that the data was calibrated and correct.
The Leader commented that it would be interesting to hear from officers when the data would be available so that this can be shared with the public and be used against the appeal process.
The Leader also reiterated the need for residents to continue reporting cases.
Resolved: (i) That the contents of this update report be noted.
(ii) That the request for the Council to be a principal party in the appeal process as set out in section 2 of this report, be noted.
(iii) That, if participation on the terms set out in recommendation 2 was to be agreed by the Planning Inspectorate, the participation of the Council in that process be endorsed.