Clayton Hall Landfill Site
16th of July, 2020
ENVIRONMENT AGENCY
Information Letter Clayton Hall Landfill Issue 2
January 2018
Update on progress
We are aware of the impact Clayton Hall landfill is having on the community at present and understand the distress and annoyance the smells have been causing. The smells are a result of insufficient landfill gas control and containment. As a result, we fast tracked the assessment of engineering proposals from the operator which we received just before the New Year, so that a specialist contractor could mobilise and drill wells within the waste to improve gas extraction. The drilling works are now ongoing and scheduled for completion by the end of this month. We are aware that the drilling mobilises odours in the short term, but this will result in better gas collection. Medium to long-term engineering works will further improve the containment of the landfill. We will be conducting regular inspections of the site to make sure that progress is maintained.
We are aware that there have been questions about closing the site and revoking the environmental permit. This would not solve the landfill gas and odour issues. The ongoing engineering works are a significant project and need considerable financial investment. Should the operator be prevented from operating their business, it would affect the funding of the improvement works and potentially delay any solution. We want to ensure the company gets the engineering in place as soon as possible to stop the impact on the local community.
We are continuing to do regular visits in the community and our officers have been recording the odour impact on the community in order to support our work in requiring the site to improve. Many of you have approached our officers and we have been explaining the work that has been taking place. Thank you for taking the time to speak to our officers.
We are also aware that many residents have concerns about the health impacts of landfills. Some compounds in landfill gas can be smelled at very low levels indeed - well below the human health threshold in terms of exposure but we do know that the smell can cause stress. We have been working with Chorley Council and Public Health England to provide reassurance to the community and in the next week or so we will continue our work in the community by taking readings from specialist air monitoring equipment.
We want to tell you about what we are doing and keep you up to date with progress. We will issue another newsletter in early February. We have also asked the operator to talk to the community and let them know what is happening on site
Reporting Odours
If you are experiencing smells you believe are from the site, first of all please contact the site operator on 07961 403782. If you are not happy with the response, or you want to report an incident to us separately please call our incident hotline on 0800 80 70 60. As part of our regulatory duties we may audit operator's responses in dealing with complaints.
Feedback
At the moment we can only feedback to people who have called our incident hotline via this newsletter. This allows technical staff to spend more time ensuring the operator continuing to take steps to resolve the situation. If you did not receive the first newsletter and want a copy or if you would prefer not to receive these updates please email sharon.goulbourne@environment-agency.gov.uk