Landfill Check

Historic landfill sites in City of London, Greater London

The Environment Agency records 49 historic landfill sites in and around City of London, Greater London. covering roughly 234 hectares in total. The largest is Coalite Site (POR020) at 32.77 ha. Recorded waste ranges up to special (hazardous) waste. Data: October 2025 revision.

Recorded landfill boundaries around City of London (indicative, digitised at 1:10,000).

All recorded sites, largest first

SiteAreaLast inputWaste types
Coalite Site (POR020)32.77 ha—Inert
Lavender Dock20.57 ha1975Inert
Quebec Dock19.18 ha1975Inert
East Greenwich Site13.11 ha—Inert
Wapping Basin12.35 ha—Waste types not recorded
Low Hall Sports Ground12.12 ha1955Inert
Spitalfields Market Site11.59 ha1990Inert
Lea Bridge Road Playing Fields10.55 ha1960Inert
Eastern Dock7.78 ha—Waste types not recorded
Lloyd's Shoot6.61 ha1945HouseholdCommercial
Clays Lane6.39 ha—Waste types not recorded
East India Dock6.37 ha—Waste types not recorded
Canada Dock5.84 ha1975Inert
Russia Dock5.49 ha1975Inert
Albion Dock5.19 ha1975Inert
White Hart Lane Works5.15 ha1955HouseholdCommercialInert
Channelsea Creek4.93 ha1984Inert
Lady Dock4.8 ha1975Inert
Land at Oliver Close4.34 ha1950IndustrialInert
Sydenham Gasworks3.97 ha—SpecialInert
Island Dock3.81 ha1975Inert
Marsh Lane Playing Field3.8 ha1970IndustrialInert
Lea Bridge Depot Site3.72 ha1986Inert
Poplar Dock3.19 ha—Waste types not recorded
Shadwell Basin2.23 ha—Waste types not recorded
Penfold2.15 ha1983IndustrialInert
Norway Dock2.11 ha1975Inert
Old Canal Filling2 ha1975Inert
Western Entrance Lock1.68 ha1982Inert
Old Canal Filling1.56 ha—HouseholdCommercialInert
Stave Dock1.52 ha1975Inert
Manor Lane1.46 ha1870Inert
Former Lea Bridge Aqueduct1.44 ha1989Inert
Southgate Town Hall1.06 ha1989Waste types not recorded
Linear Park1.02 ha1994Inert
Millwall Outer Dock Entrance0.55 ha—Waste types not recorded
Lanrick Road0.45 ha—Waste types not recorded
Mitford Road0.2 ha1994Inert
Stratford Rail Lands0.2 ha1949Inert
The Heights0.2 ha—SpecialInert
Rosoman Street / Skinner Street0.2 ha1978Inert
Land adjacent to Low Hall Depot0.17 ha—Waste types not recorded
Sydenham Gasworks Phase 10.15 ha1994Industrial
Idlerton Road0.13 ha—Waste types not recorded
Sydenham Gasworks Phase 10.09 ha1994Industrial
Rainsborough Avenue0.07 ha—Waste types not recorded
Western Dock0.06 ha—Waste types not recorded
Lausanne Road -Gautrey Road0.03 ha—Waste types not recorded
British Rail—1975Waste 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 City of London?
49 historic (closed) landfill sites are recorded within about 15km of City of London 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 City of London?
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.