My regular column was published in today's Sentinel (Stoke-on-Trent Live). I wrote about the news on the abatement notice over Walley's and my appointment as Parliamentary Private Secretary. The text is below.
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Yesterday’s news on Walley’s Quarry represents a significant step forward in our fight for justice, accountability and a permanent stink-free future. I know the problem is still not fully resolved: I smelt the odour for myself again the other night and I know it has been bothering many residents at night again. But through monitoring, capping, and the installation of more wells, the site is now capturing and destroying more gas than ever, reducing emissions and complaints.
In August 2021, the Borough Council had, quite rightly, served the operator with an abatement notice requiring them to prevent the fugitive emissions from the site that have so blighted our community. Regrettably the operator, Walley’s Quarry Limited, chose to appeal that notice, but both parties have now come to an agreement which means that the abatement notice will remain in place.
To my mind, this is a win not only for the Council – and I congratulate them for their efforts on behalf of Newcastle residents – but also for the whole of the community affected by the odour from Walley’s Quarry.
By withdrawing their appeal, the operator have finally conceded that their site has been responsible for unacceptable odour, a fact that they have repeatedly denied in the past, including in meetings with me. I am now calling for Walley’s Quarry Limited to go further and apologise to the community for their failings, and set out how they intend to compensate affected residents for the very real damage that has been done to people’s health and quality of life.
I am also pleased that Walley’s Quarry agreed to pay £400,000 of the council’s legal costs, plus a further £60,000 for future monitoring of the site, and have committed to much greater transparency, both with the council and with the community.
However, the Council should not have had to go through this process. Better regulation from the Environment Agency could have prevented this blight from ever occurring. The Council have fought hard for local people and put the EA to shame.
The EA now need to urgently step up as the only body with the full powers to make sure the problem is dealt with properly and the operator are properly punished for the repeated breaches of their permit. We need to see the two EA investigations – regulatory and criminal – given the utmost priority and brought to conclusions as soon as possible.
As the MP for Newcastle, I will continue to press for the operator to be held to account to the fullest extent of the law, and for the EA to answer for the inadequacies of their regulation to date. I will always work tirelessly to ensure my constituents get justice and can live stink free.
In more personal news, I am delighted to announce that I have joined the Government and been appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the ministerial team at the Ministry of Justice, under the new Secretary of State for Justice, the Lord Chancellor Brandon Lewis MP.
The Ministry of Justice is responsible for courts, prisons, probation services and attendance centres. We work to protect and advance the principles of justice, and our vision is to deliver a world-class justice system that works for everyone in society.
Since taking over the role in September, Mr Lewis has announced mandatory drug testing for offenders after they are released from prison, agreed a deal that should get striking criminal barristers back to work, and introduced new court rules to spare victims of rape the stress of being cross-examined during a live trial.
We are also working on better rehabilitation of offenders, including introducing new legislation to allow prisoners to take up apprenticeships behind bars for the first time. These apprenticeships will give them the skills they need to get jobs on release and pay their own way. They can help build communities, while rebuilding their lives.
This appointment is a great honour and a fantastic opportunity under a Secretary of State who has made a strong start in the department, and I am really looking forward to the challenge. Constituents should rest assured that I don’t envisage this having any impact on my work in Newcastle-under-Lyme, not least in continuing to fight for justice and accountability over Walley’s Quarry.