A number of constituents have written to me regarding the HGVs on Cemetery Road waiting to go into Walley’s Quarry landfill, and I am also aware of footage and photographs being shared on social media. This is causing a major traffic hazard and impeding the ability of people to get to work or school.
I have raised this previously on a number of occasions with both Staffordshire County Council (SCC) and Staffordshire Police. Unfortunately the matter still has not been resolved. The Police are responsible for hazardous and/or obstructive parking – though the HGV drivers will contend that they are queueing, not parking. SCC are responsible for traffic movements to and from the landfill site.
The HGVs are causing major disruption in the area and I know that some relatively minor accidents have already occurred. I share constituents’ increasing concerns about the risk of a serious accident.
I have therefore contacted SCC and Staffordshire Police again, imploring them to work together to come up with a way to stop this danger.
As per this Stoke Sentinel article, SCC Leader Alan White said,
"A spokesperson for the company has said that it will be submitting a planning application to allow the gates to be opened earlier in the day to ease the situation – although this will not change the opening hours for the landfill itself. Having contacted the company we have been told an application is being prepared, but that no date has been set yet for its submission.
“We have offered pre-application advice to try to speed up the process and I urge the company to act as quickly as possible so the county council can begin its statutory processes.”
A planning application, as above, to allow HGVs to park on site before 7am (but not being allowed to tip) would partially alleviate the problem during the busiest time of day. Alternatively, a booking system, with dedicated timeslots for each delivery, might serve to manage the peak of demand.
Regardless, the traffic situation at present is clearly unsafe. I have urged both the Police and the County Council to work together to come up with a solution to this problem.
