Landfill Check

Historic landfill sites in Heywood

The Environment Agency records 31 historic landfill sites in and around Heywood. covering roughly 78 hectares in total. The largest is Land South of Chadwick Lane at 13.75 ha. Recorded waste ranges up to special (hazardous) waste. Data: October 2025 revision.

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

All recorded sites, largest first

SiteAreaLast inputWaste types
Land South of Chadwick Lane13.75 ha1986SpecialIndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
Boo-Hole Sand Quarry Extension9.87 ha1990SpecialLiquid / sludgeIndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
Brook Bank6.1 haIndustrialInert
Peel Lane5.74 ha1975Liquid / sludgeIndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
Prettywood Sand Quarry5.53 haIndustrialInert
Prettywood West Extension Landfill Site5.53 haWaste types not recorded
Bowlee Sand QuarryBluebell Lane4.75 haIndustrialInert
Bury New Road3.59 ha1985SpecialLiquid / sludgeIndustrialInert
Queens Park Road3.21 ha1976Inert
Roach Mill3.14 haIndustrialHousehold
Rochdale Old Road2.57 ha1975Liquid / sludgeIndustrialHouseholdCommercial
Former Sludge Pits2.13 haWaste types not recorded
Transparent Paper Limited1.77 ha1986SpecialLiquid / sludgeIndustrialInert
Mutual Street1.55 ha1986Inert
Buly and Rochdale Old Road1.26 haIndustrialCommercialInert
Hooley Bridge Works1.1 haWaste types not recorded
Lower Elbut Farm0.88 haWaste types not recorded
Clay Lane Water treatment Works0.86 haWaste types not recorded
Roe Acre Mill0.83 ha1992CommercialInert
Rochdale Old Road0.63 ha1985Inert
Rainshore Works0.62 haIndustrialInert
Ashworth Reservoir0.42 haWaste types not recorded
Bury And Rochdale Old Road0.37 ha1980IndustrialInert
Dexine Works0.31 haWaste types not recorded
Elbut Wood0.3 haWaste types not recorded
Former Gasholder Site0.25 haWaste types not recorded
Woodhouse Mill0.23 ha1991IndustrialInert
Park View Landfill Site0.22 ha1993HouseholdCommercialInert
Meadowcroft Mill0.17 haWaste types not recorded
Simpson Clough Mills0.16 haSpecialIndustrialInert
Hooley Bridge0.14 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 Heywood?
31 historic (closed) landfill sites are recorded within about 15km of Heywood 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 Heywood?
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.