Landfill Check

Historic landfill sites in Brierfield, Lancashire

The Environment Agency records 17 historic landfill sites in and around Brierfield, Lancashire. covering roughly 48 hectares in total. The largest is Nelson and Barrowford Effluent Treatment Works at 20.21 ha. Recorded waste ranges up to liquid/sludge waste. Data: October 2025 revision.

Recorded landfill boundaries around Brierfield (indicative, digitised at 1:10,000).

All recorded sites, largest first

SiteAreaLast inputWaste types
Nelson and Barrowford Effluent Treatment Works20.21 ha1989Liquid / sludgeIndustrialInert
Netherwood Farm5.09 ha1994Inert
Higher Reedley Road3.47 haHouseholdCommercial
Waterside Farm3.28 ha1989Inert
Greenhead Lane2.79 haInert
Greenhead Lane2.58 haInert
Gas Works Tip2.54 ha1981HouseholdInert
Higher Duckpits2.53 ha1981Inert
Pratt Street1.55 ha1965Household
Ribble Avenue Mill1.01 haWaste types not recorded
Adjacent to M650.69 ha1980Inert
Lane Head Quarry0.59 haWaste types not recorded
Adjacent to River Don0.45 haWaste types not recorded
Keswick Road Reservoir0.32 haWaste types not recorded
Brierfield Mill0.23 ha1989IndustrialInert
Barden Tip0.2 haHouseholdCommercial
Walshaw Clough Reservoir0.1 haWaste types not recorded

What this data does — and doesn't — cover

  • Licensed-era records only. Waste licensing began in 1974. Older tips — especially small pre-war ones — are incompletely recorded, so absence from this data does not mean no landfill ever existed here.
  • Not the contaminated-land register. Councils hold a separate register of land determined as contaminated. A historic landfill entry is not a contamination determination, and vice versa.
  • Boundaries are indicative. Digitised at 1:10,000 scale; some are buffers around a point rather than surveyed edges.
  • Not a substitute for a formal environmental search. If you're buying, your conveyancer's environmental search checks this and several other sources.

EA Historic Landfill dataset, October 2025 revision. More on the methodology page.

Common questions

How many former landfill sites are there in Brierfield?
17 historic (closed) landfill sites are recorded within about 15km of Brierfield town centre in the Environment Agency's Historic Landfill dataset (October 2025 revision). Pre-1974 sites are incompletely recorded, so the true historical number is likely higher.
How do I check a specific address in Brierfield?
Search the postcode on Landfill Check — you'll see every recorded site within 1km, with distance, direction and waste types, measured to the site boundary.

Nearby areas

Worth reading: buying a house near a former landfill and what the waste types mean.