Walleys Quarry: Supreme Court refuses to hear mum's case

The Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal by lawyers for a boy who argue his life is being shortened due to noxious landfill gases.

The legal row over emissions at Walleys Quarry, Staffordshire, centres on court orders imposed on the Environment Agency (EA), then later lifted.

The family of Mathew Richards, five, who has breathing difficulties, was fighting to overturn the EA's reprieve.

His mother said the latest legal knockback "completely let him down".

Mathew, who was born prematurely with a chronic lung disease, lives near the site in Silverdale that has been at the centre of residents' objections over odours for several years, with complaints - in their tens of thousands - spiking from early 2021, and people also holding protests.

Legal action began in August when Mathew's lawyers successfully argued at the High Court that hydrogen sulphide (H2S) - a poisonous, corrosive gas with an eggy smell - had worsened his underlying health issues, and emissions were affecting hundreds and probably thousands of local people.

The court ordered the EA to do more to control H2S levels. At the Court of Appeal, however, the EA argued it was bringing down emissions, with judges agreeing the agency had not acted unlawfully in the work it had already carried out to address issues.

That outcome was in turn being challenged by lawyers representing Mathew, who wished to make their case before The Supreme Court.

But The Supreme Court concluded the bid did "not raise an arguable point of law".

Mathew's mother Rebecca Currie said she felt like "we are now back where we started", but added she was determined to continue the case.

The family's solicitor Rebekah Carrier called the Supreme Court decision "extremely disappointing".

Ms Carrier added the legal team would ask the European Court of Human Rights to consider Mathew's case.

The EA said it recognised that the landfill's impact on nearby residents "continues to be distressing" and it did not take the issue lightly.

It added it would keep working to make sure the quarry's operator cut H2S emissions.

"We are determined to tackle the problems at Walleys Quarry, as we have been throughout," the EA said.

The site's operator, Walleys Quarry Ltd, has refused to comment.

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