Newcastle under Lyme Council

A council says the owner of a landfill quarry at the centre of complaints about a noxious smell has appealed against a notice served by the authority.

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In August, Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council served a statutory nuisance abatement notice to Walley's Quarry in Silverdale, Staffordshire.

Thousands of complaints have been made over smells from the site and some residents and medics have claimed they have worsened people's illnesses.

The council said it had been told an appeal against its notice had been lodged by Walleys Quarry Ltd on several grounds, including a claim there was no statutory nuisance from the site.

The firm has not responded to confirm the appeal.

Neighbour disputes driven by heightened community tensions during lockdown are thought to be behind a rise in anti-social behaviour complaints in part of Staffordshire.

Staffordshire PoliceCopyright: Staffordshire Police

Between April 2020 and March, 461 cases were made to Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council, up from 342 for the previous 12 months.

Most of the incidents, 175, were labelled as "general nuisance", but the figure also included 61 instances of neighbour nuisance and 21 suspected breaches of Covid-19 rules.

A report for the council's scrutiny committee said staff believed tensions rose in communities during the first national lockdown due to more people having to stay home and "no other distractions".

A hospital is being given the freedom of Newcastle-under-Lyme for their "dedication and care" during the coronavirus pandemic.

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The borough council is set to formally approve the honour for the Royal Stoke University Hospital on Wednesday evening.

The nomination states the authority is "expressing its admiration and appreciation" of the hospital.

Later this year, the hospital's chief executive will be formally given the scrolls of freedom.

A road linking Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle-under-Lyme could be closed at peak times to reduce pollution levels and avoid a congestion charge zone.

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The government had told Stoke-on-Trent City Council and Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council they had to cut the level of nitrogen dioxide on the A53 Etruria Road.

Staffordshire County Council, which is the highways authority for the borough, said the proposals would see the westbound side of the road closed from the A500 junction during the morning and evening rush hours.

The lcoal authority said motorists would face a charging zone unless the traffic reduction plans were introduced by late 2022.

The proposals will be examined by all three councils before going forward for a decision.

Several caravans and about 20 tonnes of rubbish have been fly-tipped near an industrial estate.

Staffordshire County CouncilCopyright: Staffordshire County Council

The waste, at Chemical Lane, Newcastle-under-Lyme, is due to be cleared later by councils and a metal recycler.

Describing it as a "major and costly incident", the authorities said the clean-up should be done in a day but the road would be temporarily closed.

The borough council added it was considering installing CCTV cameras in the area to try and stop further fly-tipping.

Staffordshire County CouncilCopyright: Staffordshire County Council

Here are some of the Staffordshire stories being covered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service:

• Taxi drivers are facing new council charges in Newcastle-under-Lyme including £43 to change the colour of their cab
• The rainbow flag will be flown by Cannock Chase Council next month, five months ahead of the area's first LGBT Pride event
• Full meetings of Cannock Chase Council could start two hours later in the future to make them easier for councillors with work and other commitments to go to

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A community group says it will "work even harder" to get a leisure centre reopened after getting council backing.

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Kidsgrove Sports Centre closed in 2017 due to increasing costs, with Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council at the time saying it needed £2.4m spending over seven years.

But a number of people weren't happy at the move and set up a group to look at reopening part of the facility, but not the swimming pool due to costs.

This week, the council backed new proposals which included a "phased" reopening of the pool as estimated costs of £3.26m were lower than originally thought.

The authority's now setting up an all-party panel to make a formal recommendation on reopening the centre to the full council.

Thousands of solar panels are going to be built on fields around a university to generate power for students.

Keele UniversityCopyright: Keele University

Keele University's been given planning permission for the solar farm and two wind turbines by Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council.

The authority said the benefit of the scheme, which would provide power for halls of residence and teaching facilities, outweighed the harm to the green belt.

The university hasn't said when work will start on installing the 26,000 solar panels, but says it's part of its plan to be carbon neutral by 2030.

Auditors have refused to sign off the annual accounts for Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council, after discovering "fairly big errors" in the authority’s financial data.

Grant Thornton told councillors it had discovered an increased pension liability of £2.3m, and concerns about the valuation of some properties.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

The auditors said one of the issues had been the retirement of a senior council finance officer, who had been doing the job for five decades and held a lot of information "in his head".

Quote Message: There were some fairly big errors in these accounts and we are working through them with officers. We think the working papers need to be strengthened so they are clearer as to how the accounts work.” from Philip Jones Grant Thornton

There were some fairly big errors in these accounts and we are working through them with officers. We think the working papers need to be strengthened so they are clearer as to how the accounts work.”

Plans to revamp taxi licensing by a council have been watered down after pressure from drivers over the cost.

Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough CouncilCopyright: Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council

Among the changes wanted by Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council were for all new taxis to be electric, to help reduce emissions, and only allowing vehicles under four years old to be registered for use as taxis.

But firms said the changes could increase costs for customers and lead to a mass exodus of operators looking for "friendlier" boroughs.

This week, the council agreed to abandon the requirement that all new vehicles must be electric and will allow them to be up to seven years old.

It also scrapped a proposed penalty points system for driver indiscretions.

Taxi drivers will be forced out of a town if a new licensing policy's introduced, according to local companies.

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Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council's drawing up the fresh policy which includes new rules for vehicle testing and a cut in the age limit for vehicles.

But firms have said the changes could increase costs for customers and lead to a mass exodus of operators looking for 'friendlier' boroughs.

The council's said it's listened to feedback from the taxis and made changes but believes its first priority is keeping passengers safe.

The authority's licensing committee meets this evening to agree any further alterations to the proposed policy.

A council's admitted it could take years to set up an official transit site for travellers.

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It comes as one group of travellers who were evicted from Wolstanton Marsh, Newcastle-under-Lyme, yesterday have moved to a nearby patch of open land in Clayton.

The council and Staffordshire Police said they were working on getting another court order to move them on.

But, overall, the borough council has said it's faced local opposition over any plan to find an official site for them.

Quote Message: We have the 'nimby' problem, not in my back yard. I identified a site near to where the existing, permanent travellers site is up at Keele but up in arms and it was far away from people but no. Not in my back yard." from Councillor Trevor Johnson Newcastle-under-Lyme cabinet member for environment

We have the 'nimby' problem, not in my back yard. I identified a site near to where the existing, permanent travellers site is up at Keele but up in arms and it was far away from people but no. Not in my back yard."

A new security policy is being introduced at a college in Staffordshire in an attempt to prevent knife crime on campus.

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Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council says £1,000 has been given to the town''s college to spend on metal-detecting "knife wands" which will be used for random checks from September.

It comes as 708 knife crimes were recorded last year in Staffordshire by police - up 6% on the year before.

Students and staff at the college have told BBC Radio Stoke it'll make them feel safer knowing searches are taking place.