Landfill Check

Historic landfill sites in Reading, Reading

The Environment Agency records 57 historic landfill sites in and around Reading, Reading. covering roughly 233 hectares in total. The largest is Pingewood Road at 27.33 ha. Recorded waste ranges up to special (hazardous) waste. Data: October 2025 revision.

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

All recorded sites, largest first

SiteAreaLast inputWaste types
Pingewood Road27.33 ha1991Liquid / sludgeIndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
Richfield Avenue23.75 ha1979Liquid / sludgeHouseholdCommercial
Hook End20.82 ha1971IndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
Island Road14.24 ha1985Inert
Island Road Tip14.01 ha1975Liquid / sludgeIndustrialCommercialInert
Anslow Cottages12.79 ha1992Inert
Smallmead Stadium10.8 ha—Inert
Knights Farm1 (North)9.85 ha1983Liquid / sludgeIndustrialInert
Burghfield Area D7.42 ha—Waste types not recorded
Field Farm No.17.04 ha1988IndustrialInert
Knights Farm No.3 (Silt Ponds)6.63 ha1987Inert
Sludge Beds6.52 ha—Waste types not recorded
Moores Farm6.37 ha1991Liquid / sludgeIndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
Knights Farm 4 (Restaurant Site)5.48 ha1988Inert
Deans Farm4.87 ha—Waste types not recorded
Chambers Copse4.55 ha1981Liquid / sludgeIndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
Anslow Cottages4.03 ha1992Inert
Cottage Lane No.23.72 ha1989Inert
Kiln Farm3.54 ha—Inert
Manor Farm3.48 ha—Inert
Gilette Warehouse3.1 ha1939Liquid / sludgeHouseholdCommercial
Anslow Cottages2.6 ha1992Inert
Waterloo Meadows2.58 ha—IndustrialInert
Cottage Lane No.12.54 ha1981IndustrialInert
Napier Road2.48 ha—IndustrialInert
Kereba2.3 ha1989IndustrialInert
Land at School Green, Shinfield2.3 ha—IndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
Craddock Road2.16 ha—IndustrialInert
Weirside1.64 ha1990Inert
Rose Kiln Lane South1.61 ha1994Liquid / sludgeHouseholdCommercial
Smallmead Tip1.33 ha1981SpecialLiquid / sludgeIndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
Kirtons Farm1.13 ha1990Inert
Pleasant View Cottage1.09 ha1969Inert
Whitehouse Farm0.86 ha1973IndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
Silverthorne Drive0.76 ha1959IndustrialInert
Cane End Farm0.75 ha—HouseholdInert
Sussex Way0.7 ha1969IndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
Sadlers Farm0.6 ha1959Inert
Green Lane0.59 ha1979IndustrialInert
Pingewood Road0.46 ha1988Inert
The Beeches Smallholding0.44 ha1981Inert
The Hanger Station Road0.43 ha1989Inert
Sussex Way0.39 ha1969IndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
Cow Lane0.38 ha1959Inert
Long Lane0.37 ha1975HouseholdCommercialInert
Clarence Way0.29 ha1979HouseholdCommercialInert
Beecham Hill0.28 ha—IndustrialInert
Kidmoor End Road0.2 ha—HouseholdCommercialInert
Nippers Grove0.17 ha1975IndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
Thirlmere Avenue0.16 ha—IndustrialInert
Grazeley Road0.15 ha1986IndustrialInert
Pitchkettle Farm0.13 ha1985IndustrialInert
Burghfield Road0.12 ha1982Inert
Nunhide Lane, Calcot0.1 ha1989IndustrialInert
Behind the High Street0.08 ha1959IndustrialInert
Mapledurham Chalk Pit0.07 ha1988HouseholdInert
The Hanger Station Road0.04 ha1989Inert

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 Reading?
57 historic (closed) landfill sites are recorded within about 15km of Reading 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 Reading?
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.