Landfill Check

Historic landfill sites in Portishead, North Somerset

The Environment Agency records 33 historic landfill sites in and around Portishead, North Somerset. covering roughly 222 hectares in total. The largest is T. Farm at 79.57 ha. Recorded waste ranges up to special (hazardous) waste. Data: October 2025 revision.

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

All recorded sites, largest first

SiteAreaLast inputWaste types
T. Farm79.57 haInert
Kingsweston Lane21.95 haWaste types not recorded
Part Of Plot 647513.16 haInert
Fowlers Site13.12 haWaste types not recorded
Future Development Area Royal Portbury Dock11.82 ha1987IndustrialInert
VR Tip9.96 haIndustrialInert
No.3 AHF Lagoon5.97 ha1994IndustrialInert
Weston Drove (3)5.89 haWaste types not recorded
No.4 AHF Lagoon5.82 ha1994Industrial
Central Electricity Generating Board5.3 haIndustrial
Council Tip (2)4.74 haWaste types not recorded
Clevedon Tip4.27 haWaste types not recorded
Weston Drove3.96 ha1979IndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
Portway3.48 ha1977HouseholdCommercial
Fowlers Site2.97 haWaste types not recorded
3 AHF Lagoon2.89 haIndustrial
Land adjoining Royal Portbury Dock2.57 ha1992SpecialIndustrialHouseholdInert
Commonwealth Smelting Limited2.48 haWaste types not recorded
Portishead Power Station2.44 ha1989SpecialIndustrialInert
Priory Farm2.42 ha1991IndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
Royal Portbury Dock2.14 ha1969Inert
2 AHF Lagoon2.12 ha1964Industrial
Britannia Zinc Slag Tip2.01 haIndustrial
Entrance to closed Avonmouth Docks2 haWaste types not recorded
Council Tip (1)1.94 haWaste types not recorded
Britannia Zinc Factory Tip1.79 haIndustrial
St Andrews Road1.44 haInert
Elm Tree Farm1.34 ha1982Inert
Avonmouth Dock Entrance Channel0.94 ha1983Inert
Beryllium Burial Pits0.61 ha1972Waste types not recorded
Gas Area Tip0.3 haWaste types not recorded
Land Adjoining Station Road0.22 ha1981Inert
Tenneco Organics Limited, Rockingham Works0.04 haLiquid / sludgeInert

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 Portishead?
33 historic (closed) landfill sites are recorded within about 15km of Portishead 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 Portishead?
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.