‘ROTTEN EGGS’ LANDFILL STENCH IS A REAL HEADACHE FOR MUM
Rebecca fears for baby and four-year-old
MUM-OF-TWO Rebecca Currie says the smell from a controversial landfill site is giving her headaches.
The 40-year-old has likened the Walleys Quarry stench to ‘rotten eggs’ and says she once feared she had got a gas leak because the smell was so bad.
Both her young sons – Denzel, who is six months old, and four- year-old Matthew – were born prematurely and have health problems.
Rebecca, who lives in Silverdale, said: “You are being told to open your doors and windows during the pandemic – but we can’t open them.
“We can still smell it in our homes with the doors and windows closed. “It’s like rotten eggs and gases. “You sit down to have your tea at night and all you smell is that. It’s disgraceful.
“At one point I thought I’d got a gas leak because it was that bad.
“I never had headaches but at the minute I am suffering quite a few and I am a healthy adult so what’s my baby going through? He is on oxygen and he can’t tell me.
“He has got chronic lung disease.
The other night the smell in the house was horrendous and he was really unsettled.
“He hadn’t got a temperature and there weren’t any other signs of him being unwell. Because my little boy is on oxygen we can’t spray any deodorant and he can’t even have baby lotion on his body or baby powder.
“My four-year-old has got chest problems and keeps saying he has got a sore throat.”
Hundreds of people have complained to Newcastle Borough Council and the Environment Agency about the smell from the Silverdale landfill.
The Sentinel has revealed that the council is spending £50,000 on investigating the complaints.
Rebecca added: “Everybody has had enough. I’m sick of waking up in the morning or through the night and smelling the smell.”
Red Industries operates Walleys Quarry. A spokesman said: “Walleys Quarry is compliantly operated under an environmental permit and county council planning permission.
“The Environment Agency has carried out two comprehensive air quality studies in the Silverdale area, amounting to some 342 days of continuous monitoring during the last four years.
“All results are below those set for human health. The Environment Agency is currently carrying out a third air monitoring study and we do not expect the results to show anything different.”