Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the number of odour complaints about Walley's Quarry landfill in the last six months; and what assessment he has made on the acceptability of the level and type of odour arising from its operations.

The Environment Agency (EA) received 6938 odour complaints relating to Walley’s Quarry Landfill in the last six months, including a significant increase since December 2020.

The EA is completing regular odour assessments within the local area and undertaking more frequent assessments at locations where it receives the most complaints. Over the last six months the EA has completed 28 amenity assessments and formally visited the site on nine occasions. It has also completed seven procedure and report reviews.

Trained EA officers have detected odour at some locations but could not substantiate reports at a level considered to be of annoyance. The EA will continue with odour assessments and visits to ensure all measures are being used to minimise odour impacting local residents.