Historic landfill sites in Dewsbury
The Environment Agency records 19 historic landfill sites in and around Dewsbury. covering roughly 96 hectares in total. The largest is Shaw Cross Landfill Site at 47.13 ha. Recorded waste ranges up to special (hazardous) waste. Data: October 2025 revision.
Recorded landfill boundaries around Dewsbury (indicative, digitised at 1:10,000).
All recorded sites, largest first
| Site | Area | Last input | Waste types |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shaw Cross Landfill Site | 47.13 ha | 1991 | IndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert |
| Thornhill Power Station | 12.21 ha | — | IndustrialInert |
| Tipping Site | 10.26 ha | — | Waste types not recorded |
| Wakefield Road Recreation Ground | 5.13 ha | 1957 | Household |
| Railway Cutting off Savile Road | 4.48 ha | 1999 | Liquid / sludgeIndustrialInert |
| Forge Lane | 3.24 ha | 1989 | IndustrialCommercialInert |
| Railway Cutting to the North of Leeds Road | 2.27 ha | — | Inert |
| Sewage Works | 2.15 ha | — | Waste types not recorded |
| Land adjacent to Little Royd Mill | 1.67 ha | 1982 | CommercialInert |
| Land ar Ravensthorpe Road | 1.61 ha | 1986 | CommercialInert |
| Disused Railway Cutting | 1.42 ha | 1982 | IndustrialCommercialInert |
| Disused Railway Cutting | 1.22 ha | 1994 | IndustrialCommercialInert |
| Disused Railway Cutting and Gully at Parkhouse Farm | 1.19 ha | 1989 | CommercialInert |
| Land at Greaves Road | 0.61 ha | 1990 | CommercialInert |
| Hall Lane Railway Cutting | 0.59 ha | 1980 | CommercialInert |
| C R Longley Ltd | 0.44 ha | — | SpecialIndustrialInert |
| Former dams at Syke Ing Mills | 0.21 ha | — | CommercialInert |
| The Common | 0.2 ha | — | Commercial |
| The Combs | 0.17 ha | 1990 | CommercialInert |
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 Dewsbury?
- 19 historic (closed) landfill sites are recorded within about 15km of Dewsbury 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 Dewsbury?
- 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.