Quarries: Planning Policy

Adam Jogee Excerpts

Tuesday 16th December 2025 Westminster Hall

[Adam Jogee (Newcastle-under-Lyme) (Lab)]

Thank you very much, Dr Murrison. I am grateful to the hon. Member for South Leicestershire (Alberto Costa) for securing the debate and giving me the opportunity to speak about the impact of quarries once permission for them has been granted. Newcastle-under-Lyme has regrettably been tarnished in this place for far too long by the events at Walley’s quarry landfill site. I look forward to the day, as do my neighbours back home, when we can finally put this disgraceful situation behind us.

When Walley’s quarry was granted a licence to operate as a landfill site, the assumption was that the site would be managed safely, responsibly and with the local community in mind. But we know all too painfully that that did not happen. Odour complaints began many years ago, but from 2020 onwards they surged to intolerable levels. The experiences of my constituents were beyond comprehension: respiratory irritation, headaches, disrupted sleep and mental health strain, with children unable to play outside, elderly residents housebound and families unable to open their windows. That is not to mention the disgraceful experience of my young constituent Matthew. I pay tribute to him, his mother Becky Currie and their family for all they have done to shine a light on the disgraceful situation at Walley’s quarry.

It is clear that the impact of the hydrogen sulphide emitting from Walley’s quarry was not just a nuisance; it was a public health crisis that the people of Newcastle-under-Lyme were forced to live with. Although we cannot go back in time, we must ensure that our experiences are not repeated anywhere else in the United Kingdom.

Walley’s quarry reveals a fundamental gap in the UK’s planning system. Even when technically compliant, planning permission does not guarantee that a waste site in a former quarry will remain safe or tolerable for those who live around it. Too much trust was placed in conditions that lacked enforceability and, in our case, an operator who consistently failed to do the right thing. In my working life I have never seen cowboy operators as irresponsible, as greedy, as reckless and—to put it bluntly—as criminal as those in the details I shall share with the House today.

I have received news that Nigel Bowen, who was once responsible for the operations at Walley’s quarry, died last month. I of course acknowledge the impact on his family, but I am also concerned about what this means for the criminal investigation. We cannot be in a situation where people who know what happened, who can provide answers and who must be held accountable avoid justice for whatever reason. I hope that the criminal investigation reaches its conclusion sooner rather than later.

I have received reports, which I have raised with His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, that the former operators at Walley’s quarry owe in the region of £80 million. I urge all relevant authorities to go after every single penny, because the people of Newcastle-under-Lyme deserve no less.

The Environment Agency has been clear in its assessments. It recorded repeated breaches by the operator, identified poor management, and concluded that Walleys Quarry Ltd had failed to demonstrate that it could control fugitive landfill emissions. Between 2021 and 2024 the Environment Agency undertook more than 180 inspections—far more than would be considered normal for a landfill site—and still the problems persisted.

The problem is not simply a bad operator or political leaders at all levels of government who fail to act when needed; it is a system that allows a badly managed site to continue operating for years, even as the harm grows and enforcement escalates. Planning permissions granted decades ago no longer reflect modern environmental standards, population densities or public health evidence, and the law does not make it easy to intervene when things go wrong. Two weeks ago we celebrated a year since Walley’s quarry was closed down, and I am grateful to all those who campaigned so hard to help to make that happen.

Local planning authorities must require far more vigorous assessments of the long-term environmental and public health risks associated with converting quarries into waste sites. Before any waste site is granted permission, operators must provide fully protected bonds or trust funds that are capable of covering decades of aftercare. When companies collapse, the public must not inherit their liabilities.

I have two specific requests of the Minister. First, no quarry with the potential to become a landfill site should be opened within 500 metres of any homes, and no planning application should be approved. Secondly, I urge Ministers to create an excess of supply for the responsible disposal of gypsum. All planning permissions for landfills should require separate stable non-reactive hazardous material cells to be constructed, because this will help to deter the mixing and misclassifying of such waste. What happened at Walley’s quarry must never be allowed to happen again.