Historic landfill sites in Watford, Hertfordshire
The Environment Agency records 18 historic landfill sites in and around Watford, Hertfordshire. covering roughly 74 hectares in total. The largest is Council Refuse Tip at 11.81 ha. Recorded waste ranges up to special (hazardous) waste. Data: October 2025 revision.
Recorded landfill boundaries around Watford (indicative, digitised at 1:10,000).
All recorded sites, largest first
| Site | Area | Last input | Waste types |
|---|---|---|---|
| Council Refuse Tip | 11.81 ha | — | Commercial |
| Furtherfield | 11.62 ha | 1987 | Liquid / sludgeIndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert |
| Ovaltine Farm | 8.79 ha | 1986 | Inert |
| Knutsford Playing Field | 7.9 ha | 1959 | Waste types not recorded |
| Radlett Road | 7.9 ha | 1985 | HouseholdCommercialInert |
| Land at Croxley Mills | 4.39 ha | 1982 | Industrial |
| Rousebarn Lane | 3.78 ha | 1958 | SpecialInert |
| Golf Driving Range | 3.22 ha | 1953 | Waste types not recorded |
| Tolpits Lane Pit | 2.93 ha | — | Waste types not recorded |
| Riverside Road | 2.92 ha | — | Waste types not recorded |
| Waterfields Recreation Ground | 2.2 ha | — | Waste types not recorded |
| Mill House Lane | 2.06 ha | — | Inert |
| Hamper Mill Lane | 1.75 ha | 1970 | Inert |
| Croxley Mills | 0.83 ha | 1981 | Liquid / sludgeIndustrial |
| Ovaltine Dairy Farm | 0.81 ha | 1981 | Inert |
| Hunton Bridge | 0.6 ha | 1985 | Inert |
| Chester Road Allotments | 0.29 ha | — | Waste types not recorded |
| Willow Haven Pet Crematorium And Cemetery | 0.15 ha | — | Industrial |
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 Watford?
- 18 historic (closed) landfill sites are recorded within about 15km of Watford 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 Watford?
- 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.