The company that ran Walleys Quarry owed millions to creditors when it collapsed, a new document shows.

Walleys Quarry Ltd (WQL) entered voluntary liquidation last month, three months after the controversial Silverdale landfill site was issued with a closure notice.

The company's statement of affairs, published on Companies House, has now revealed that it owed non-preferential creditors £3.5 million when it entered liquidation.

This included £1.25 million owed to trade and expense creditors, £1.6 million to HMRC and £43,798 to employees.

Individual creditors owed money by WQL include the Environment Agency (£591,993) and Newcastle Borough Council (£132,097).

But WQL only had £254,156 of assets left after owed taxes and employee arrears were subtracted, leaving a 'deficiency' of £3.2 million.

Other documents on Companies House show that the liquidators have 'disclaimed' ownership of the landfill site itself, which they can do in the case of 'onerous property'.

Two environmental permits relating to the landfill have also been disclaimed, meaning they are no longer in effect.

According to the statement of affairs, the land has a book value of £1.9 million, but it is 'uncertain' how much of this can be realised.

Most of the estimated £502,488 the company had in available assets was in the form of cash in the bank.

WQL was required to carry out capping and install gas infrastructure under the terms of its closure notice, and most of this work was completed prior to the company's collapse.

But how the restoration and aftercare of the site will be funded is now unclear – local politicians and campaigners have insisted that taxpayers should not be asked to foot the bill.

The Environment Agency has said that it will soon be arranging for specialist contractors to carry out further work at the landfill.

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