CALL FOR ACTION ON ‘DEATH TRAP’ LORRY QUEUES AT LANDFILL

Council ‘very concerned’ about situation

COUNCIL leaders are demanding action to stop lorries queuing outside a controversial landfill site. Campaign group Stop The Stink has highlighted the issue as lines of HGVS wait on Cemetery Road, in Silverdale, for the gates to Walleys Quarry to open.

Walleys Quarry Ltd has revealed it is drawing up a planning application to try to open its gates earlier. But Staffordshire County Council - which will determine any application - is calling for the process to be speeded up.

Stop The Stink has described the queuing lorries as a ‘death trap’. It forces vehicles travelling towards Keele onto the wrong side of the road to get past the queuing trucks.

County council leader

Alan White, right, said: “We remain very concerned about the general situation at

Walleys Quarry and the longterm effect this is having on residents.

We are also aware of the particular problem outside Walleys Quarry, where lorries queuing to enter the landfill site are causing problems for residents.

“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 preapplication 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.” In response to the lorries issues, a Walleys Quarry spokesman said: “In response to community requests, we are submitting a planning application that will allow us to open the site gates earlier in the morning to take lorries off the road. This application will not extend operating hours at the landfill.”