The owner of a landfill site at the centre of complaints over strong odours has dropped an appeal against a council order. Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council served a statutory nuisance abatement notice on Walleys Quarry Limited, based in Silverdale, Staffordshire, in 2021. The site emitted hydrogen sulphide, a smelly and noxious gas which at times had been found to exceed guidelines. Both sides say they have reached an out-of-court agreement over the order. It means the notice remains in place and the firm has agreed to pay £400,000 towards the council’s costs and £60,000 towards ongoing monitoring of the site, the local authority says. Walleys Quarry Limited [...]

The Government will not set a target for a reduction in single-use plastics, but will publish a report on reforming waste exemptions that can hide criminal activity. These announcements came from environment minister Trudy Harrison in response to a series of parliamentary questions. Labour’s Beth Winter asked if there would be a specific target set for the reduction of the use of single-use plastic by 50% by 2025. Harrison replied: “We have no plans to set a target for the reduction in single use plastic. “We want to set an Environment Act 2021 target in the area of resource efficiency and waste reduction [...]