Community leaders remain concerned about the effects of a pungent gas on residents living near Walleys Quarry – but a Government agency has said the risk of long-term health problems is "likely to be small".

Representatives of the UK Health Security Agency attended a special meeting held in Newcastle town centre on Monday (November 20) to answer councillors' questions after it emerged last month that the Environment Agency (EA) had not properly calibrated its equipment measuring hydrogen sulphide being emitted from the landfill in Silverdale.

EA representatives were also invited to the Staffordshire County Council Health and Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting at Castle House, but no-one from the agency attended to speak in person or online. The EA's failure to attend was branded "absolutely disgusting" by committee member Ann Edgeller – and fellow committee member Janice Silvester-Hall had prepared a series of questions before the meeting for the agency to answer.

Councillor Jeremy Pert, who chaired Monday's meeting, said: "We took every opportunity to get members of the EA to attend this public meeting. As far as I'm concerned, it's their responsibility to come to a community forum where community leaders can question them and scrutinise."

Instead the EA sent in a report to the committee. It said: "We established that we misinterpreted how the new model analyser that we have been using to monitor H2S (hydrogen sulphide) emissions around Walleys Quarry should have been calibrated.

A special meeting was held in Newcastle town centre on Monday (20 November) to answer councillors' questions (LDRS).

"This means that H2S data collected by these analysers before September 2023, including those currently at Walleys Quarry, are likely to have a greater degree of uncertainty than previously understood. It is only the data for H2S that is affected.

"We discovered the issue as part of a routine audit and immediately began an investigation. The scale of any under-reporting of H2S will vary over time and between different H2S analysers in the MMFs (mobile monitoring facilities).

"We have sought advice from the manufacturer and have developed a methodology for re-adjusting the historic data. This methodology is being reviewed by an independent group of experts, led by Defra's Chief Scientific Advisor, Gideon Henderson.

"We remain confident in data on all the pollutants other than hydrogen sulphide. This data continues to be used by UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) in their health risk assessments."

Councillors now plan to forward their questions to the EA for answers. They have also called for the impact on the community of the foul-smelling gas from the landfill to be re-analysed and for ongoing monitoring of the situation for the foreseeable future.

Dr Richard Harling, Staffordshire's County Council's director of health and care, said there had already been some analysis of data covering death, hospitalisation and GP consultation figures to look for any evidence of health impact. "We can be partially reassured if there had been a huge effect it would probably have shown up by now", he told the committee.

"What's less assuring is if effects are long-term in the future – they wouldn't have appeared yet. And that data cannot rule out impact on a local level, it can only pick up impact on a population level and cannot exclude effects on families or smaller groups."

It emerged last month that the EA had not properly callibrated its equipment measuring hydrogen sulphide (LDRS).

The UKHSA report to the committee said: "Due to the historic hydrogen sulphide data having a greater degree of uncertainty which currently invalidates the previous human health risk assessments, UKHSA can at this stage only qualitatively assess the risk to human health on a theoretical basis assuming that the local population may have been exposed to levels of hydrogen sulphide above the long-term health-based guidance value prior to September 2023.

"The risk of long-term health problems is likely to be small but cannot be excluded at this stage. UKHSA is aware that some people continue to experience short-term health effects.

"There are currently limited data available to assess the impacts of hydrogen sulphide exposure over many years. Studies of communities exposed to higher levels of hydrogen sulphide – for example populations located near certain industrial sites – have reported increased incidences of fatigue, irritability, headaches, poor memory, stress and nausea.

"These studies have a number of limitations, and it is therefore not possible to draw any definitive conclusion that the effects seen are caused by exposure to hydrogen sulphide. Exceedances of the odour annoyance guideline value may result in headache, nausea, dizziness, watery eyes, stuffy nose, irritated throat, cough or wheeze, sleep problems and stress.

"The more time spent above the guideline, the greater the likelihood of symptoms being experienced and consequently impacting people's health and wellbeing. UKHSA recommends that all appropriate measures continue to be taken to reduce the offsite odours from the landfill site, to reduce the health impacts experienced in the local community."

Newcastle Borough Council's leader Simon Tagg thanked the committee for holding the meeting in the town. He said: "My community is very keen to find out as much as they can why the error was made, what the error is and what the corrected data will show, for their peace of mind."

Committee member Jill Hood said: "As a mum and a granny, if I was living by that quarry I would want to wrap my arms around my children and protect them. We want assurances that things are safe and we don't need to be in panic mode and don't need to worry about our children in the future."

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