Historic landfill sites in Melksham, Wiltshire
The Environment Agency records 16 historic landfill sites in and around Melksham, Wiltshire. covering roughly 36 hectares in total. The largest is Sahara Sandpit at 8.26 ha. Recorded waste ranges up to liquid/sludge waste. Data: October 2025 revision.
Recorded landfill boundaries around Melksham (indicative, digitised at 1:10,000).
All recorded sites, largest first
| Site | Area | Last input | Waste types |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sahara Sandpit | 8.26 ha | — | Waste types not recorded |
| Sahara Sandpits | 4.87 ha | — | Waste types not recorded |
| Sahara Sandpits | 4.85 ha | 1979 | IndustrialInert |
| Bradford and Melksham Rural District Council Refuse Tip | 3.02 ha | 1974 | HouseholdCommercial |
| Disused Quarry | 2.63 ha | — | Waste types not recorded |
| Old Brickfield | 2.17 ha | — | IndustrialInert |
| School Road | 1.7 ha | 1992 | IndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert |
| Whaddon Grove Farm | 1.51 ha | 1991 | IndustrialInert |
| Folly Lane Farm | 1.32 ha | 1992 | Inert |
| Baldham | 1.21 ha | — | Waste types not recorded |
| Brickyard Plantation | 1.08 ha | 1984 | IndustrialCommercialInert |
| Tip at Hack Farm | 1.02 ha | 1978 | Waste types not recorded |
| Disused Railway Cutting | 0.75 ha | 1977 | Inert |
| Forest Farm | 0.74 ha | — | Inert |
| Bradley Lane | 0.3 ha | — | Liquid / sludgeCommercial |
| Bewley Common Road Tip | 0.2 ha | — | Waste 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 Melksham?
- 16 historic (closed) landfill sites are recorded within about 15km of Melksham 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 Melksham?
- 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.