Landfill Check

Historic landfill sites in Oxford, Oxfordshire

The Environment Agency records 37 historic landfill sites in and around Oxford, Oxfordshire. covering roughly 163 hectares in total. The largest is Port Meadow at 38.79 ha. Recorded waste ranges up to special (hazardous) waste. Data: October 2025 revision.

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

All recorded sites, largest first

SiteAreaLast inputWaste types
Port Meadow38.79 ha1980SpecialLiquid / sludgeIndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
Jackdaw Lane No.2 of 312.51 haLiquid / sludgeIndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
St.Catherine's College7.5 ha1969Inert
Meadow Lane7.35 ha1970Liquid / sludgeIndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
Woodeaton Quarry7.26 haIndustrialHouseholdInert
Woodstock Road Lakeside6.24 haWaste types not recorded
Grandpont6.08 ha1977SpecialInert
Walton Well Road Allotments5.82 haIndustrialHouseholdCommercial
Sandford Lane South5.57 haIndustrialInert
Wick Copse5.53 ha1984IndustrialInert
Rivermead5.37 ha1972Liquid / sludgeIndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
Walton Well Road5.17 haWaste types not recorded
Littlemore Gas Works5.16 haHousehold
Redbridge Park and Ride4.96 ha1971Liquid / sludgeIndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
St Johns College - Trap Grounds4.92 ha1948IndustrialHouseholdInert
Coldharbour Campsite4.71 haLiquid / sludgeIndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
Littleworth Railway Cutting4.32 ha1977Liquid / sludgeHouseholdCommercialInert
Barton Village Road3.41 haLiquid / sludgeIndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
Jackdaw Lane No.3 of 32.76 haLiquid / sludgeIndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
Blackbird Leys: Recreation Area2.62 haLiquid / sludge
Nuneham Road2.28 ha1977Liquid / sludgeHouseholdCommercialInert
Wick Farm1.82 ha1975Liquid / sludgeIndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
Jackdaw Lane No.1 of 31.69 haLiquid / sludgeIndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
Kennington Road East1.38 ha1975Liquid / sludgeIndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
Spindleberry Close1.36 haLiquid / sludgeIndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
Kennington Road West1.1 ha1975Liquid / sludgeIndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
St Nicholas Caravan Park1.01 ha1977IndustrialInert
Henley Road0.96 haWaste types not recorded
Rewley Road0.94 haLiquid / sludgeIndustrialHouseholdInert
Eagle Iron Works0.85 ha1989Liquid / sludgeIndustrialInert
Sandford Lane North0.85 haIndustrialInert
Walton Well Road North0.66 haIndustrialHouseholdCommercial
Littleworth Mobile Homes0.56 haLiquid / sludgeHouseholdCommercialInert
Kennington0.41 ha1989Inert
Wolvercote Green0.37 ha1943Liquid / sludgeIndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
Trinity Road0.31 haIndustrialInert
Jackstraws Lane0.31 ha1939IndustrialInert

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 Oxford?
37 historic (closed) landfill sites are recorded within about 15km of Oxford 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 Oxford?
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.