Every night, Beckie Currie tapes up her doors.
“I tape up the keyholes, even put plugs in the sinks and bath, put the toilet lid down, anything to try and keep the gas out,” she says.
Yet every night she is woken by her five-year-old son Mathew coughing, sometimes until he vomits.
By morning her baby Denzil’s eyes are red raw and itching. Both boys suffer frequent nosebleeds.
“Our children are being gassed in their beds,” Beckie, 41, from Silverdale, Staffordshire, says. “We’re being poisoned, and no-one is doing anything about it.”
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Beckie lives 800 metres from Walleys Quarry, a landfill site operated by Red Industries which has generated thousands of complaints from nearby residents due to allegedly toxic fumes and is now labelled a “public health emergency”.
On Friday, a legal battle in her son Mathew’s name begins against the Environment Agency, after a medical expert submitted evidence that hydrogen sulphide pollution from the site is shortening his young life.
In court documents seen by the Mirror, Dr Ian Sinha, a Respiratory Paediatrician at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, called for “emergency measures” to halt a “public health emergency with potentially catastrophic consequences”.
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He writes: “Continued exposure will have a lifelong detrimental effect on his [Mathew’s] future respiratory health, and this will subsequently reduce his life expectancy.”
Dr Sinha added: “In Silverdale there are many reports from the community of problems associated with hydrogen sulphide exposure, including headaches, nosebleeds, poor sleep, lack of concentration, and eye problems.
“In addition, there are reports in the community of poor mental health and suicide attempts in which people describe the main driver as being the constant odour from Walleys Landfill Site… People in Silverdale are more than twice as likely as the English average to be admitted to hospital for self-harm.”
Mathew was born at 26 weeks and has fragile lungs as a result, but Dr Sinha says the fumes from the site mean “he is far sicker than he should be”.
A full-time mum to Mathew and Denzil, Beckie says she feels like crying every day but has decided to fight instead. “The consultant has said that once Mathew gets to 10 or 11 his lungs could be damaged for ever, it will be life limiting. So, something needs to be done now, to give his lungs a chance.”
She describes a typical day. “We went to the park yesterday and by the time we got back he was coughing so much he was nearly vomiting,” she says. “It’s like something from Victorian times. I worry that I’m going to go in at night to find my son not waking up.”
When the family are away from the area, she says her son doesn’t touch his asthma inhaler. But she says: “I shouldn’t have to move to be able to breathe. We should be able to live safely in our own homes.”
Hydrogen sulphide is a poisonous, corrosive gas, with a foul smell. Newcastle-Under-Lyme Borough Council says it has been receiving a “huge number of complaints about the landfill site”.
Local councillors have called for the site’s permit to be suspended, and hundreds have taken part in protests at the headquarters of the site’s operator, Red Industries.
On Wednesday, Aaron Bell MP raised the issue at Prime Minister’s Questions, with the PM suggesting the Environment Agency “are not in my view sorting this problem out fast enough. We must stop this stink. I want the air around Walleys Quarry to have Alpine freshness.”
Walleys Quarry, a former pit that once provided clay to the Staffordshire Potteries, says it offers customers “a safe disposal method for waste that cannot otherwise be re-used or recycled”.
Red Industries only bought the site in 2016. They have said they’ve accelerated “an extensive capping programme which will seal a substantial and extensive area of the site.”
They add: “This capping programme will continue throughout the remaining life of the quarry, which will stop accepting waste in December 2026.”
When the Mirror contacted Red Industries for comment they did not respond before publication.
Former Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said he had “grave concerns” about the “woefully inadequate” management of the landfill site. Meanwhile, Newcastle Borough Council’s cabinet will hold a special meeting later this month to consider evidence for legal action against the operators.
Councillors have even asked the Government to help fund respite breaks for residents affected by the stench from Walleys Quarry.
In April Dr Richard Harling, Staffordshire County Council’s Director of Care and Health said: “We are also aware of a suggestion that there may be hydrogen sulphide contamination in water near to Walleys Quarry. Information has been received from the operator and is being studied.”
Dr Nic Coetzee, health protection consultant with Public Health England (PHE) Midlands, has said: "Currently any risk to long-term physical health is likely to be small, however PHE would stress that we cannot completely exclude a risk to health from pollutants in the area, especially if exposure continues at these levels.
"PHE keeps the risk assessment under review based on environmental monitoring data made available by the Environmental Agency. If the risk assessment changes PHE will review the need for further health monitoring in consultation with the Director for Public Health and CCG."
Clare Dinnis, Environment Agency Area Director for the West Midlands said: “We don’t want the community to continue to suffer from impacts of odour from Walleys Quarry. That’s why we’re doing everything within our powers and within current legislation to bring the operator into compliance.
“We continue to use an evidence-based approach to robustly regulate the operations of Walleys Quarry Limited and have issued them with a large number of actions to complete, most in a very short period of time.
“There is still a long way to go, but we are starting to see some measurable reductions in odour, though we recognise that for residents it still smells. I want to be clear that we will not stop until the site effectively manages the odour from its operations.”
Rebekah Carrier, Beckie and Mathew’s solicitor, says: “Mathew’s mother is doing what any parent would do. She is being advised by an eminent specialist doctor that her son’s life is being shortened by this pollution. The EA suggestion that they can do more is no answer.
“When Mathew is away from home he can breathe freely. The situation is desperate, and it is essential that all steps are taken to stop the emission of poisonous gases from this site which are threatening the life of Mathew and other children in the area.”
A five-year-old boy now fights the Environment Agency, not just for his own life, but for others’ too.
- stopthestink.uk
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