Historic landfill sites in Harpenden, Hertfordshire
The Environment Agency records 7 historic landfill sites in and around Harpenden, Hertfordshire. covering roughly 15 hectares in total. The largest is Wheathampstead School at 6.75 ha. Recorded waste ranges up to household waste. Data: October 2025 revision.
Recorded landfill boundaries around Harpenden (indicative, digitised at 1:10,000).
All recorded sites, largest first
| Site | Area | Last input | Waste types |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wheathampstead School | 6.75 ha | 1986 | Inert |
| Aldwickbury Crescent | 5.09 ha | — | Waste types not recorded |
| Wick Avenue | 1.71 ha | — | Waste types not recorded |
| Luton Hoo Tip | 0.6 ha | — | Household |
| Dell Hole | 0.37 ha | — | Waste types not recorded |
| Laburnum Farm | 0.32 ha | 1991 | Inert |
| Whiteway Bottom Lane | 0.14 ha | — | Commercial |
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 Harpenden?
- 7 historic (closed) landfill sites are recorded within about 15km of Harpenden 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 Harpenden?
- 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.