Historic landfill sites in Wem, Shropshire
The Environment Agency records 7 historic landfill sites in and around Wem, Shropshire. covering roughly 14 hectares in total. The largest is Sleap Airfield at 11.93 ha. Recorded waste ranges up to liquid/sludge waste. Data: October 2025 revision.
Recorded landfill boundaries around Wem (indicative, digitised at 1:10,000).
All recorded sites, largest first
| Site | Area | Last input | Waste types |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleap Airfield | 11.93 ha | 1987 | Liquid / sludgeIndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert |
| Shawbury Sewage Works | 0.65 ha | 2002 | Liquid / sludge |
| Brookside Quarry | 0.42 ha | 1970 | Household |
| Loosemores | 0.27 ha | 1984 | HouseholdInert |
| The Croft | 0.2 ha | 1976 | Industrial |
| Rubery Owen | 0.04 ha | 1981 | IndustrialInert |
| Hollands Quarry | 0.02 ha | 1970 | Household |
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 Wem?
- 7 historic (closed) landfill sites are recorded within about 15km of Wem 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 Wem?
- 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.