Blue House Quarry Stage 2 - 3
SpecialIndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
Blue House Quarry Stage 2 - 3 is a historic (closed) landfill site recorded by the Environment Agency near Houghton-le-Spring. It received special (hazardous), industrial, household, commercial and inert waste between 1984 and 1993, covering about 5.95 hectares. Reference EAHLD06178, October 2025 data revision.
Full record
| EA reference | EAHLD06178 |
|---|---|
| Site name | Blue House Quarry Stage 2 - 3 |
| Address | Blue House Quarry, Marks Lane,West Rainton, County Durham |
| Site operator | Not recorded |
| Licence holder | UK Waste Management Services Limited |
| Licence issued | 16 October 1984 |
| Licence surrendered | 1 April 1993 |
| First waste input | 17 December 1984 |
| Last waste input | 1 April 1993 |
| Area | 5.95 ha |
| Gas control | Not recorded |
| Leachate containment | Yes |
| Licensed site | Yes |
| EA area | Northumbria NE |
| Grid reference | 431300, 547300 |
Source: Environment Agency Historic Landfill Sites dataset, October 2025 revision.
Boundary map
What these waste types mean
- Special:
- the licensing-era term for hazardous waste — asbestos, chemicals, oils. The category that most warrants a closer look.
- Industrial:
- factory and process waste. Contents vary widely — some benign, some not; the site's operator and era are the clues.
- Household:
- everyday domestic refuse. Decomposes and can generate landfill gas for a few decades after closure.
- Commercial:
- waste from shops and offices — paper, packaging, food. Similar profile to household waste, usually less of it.
- Inert:
- builder's rubble, subsoil, concrete, brick. Doesn't decompose or generate gas; the lowest-concern category.
Other historic landfill sites nearby
- Lane House FarmIndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
- Black Boy RoadWaste types not recorded
- Union Hall FarmInert
- Stobley Moor FarmIndustrialCommercial
- Newcastle Newbottle LaneInert
- Rainton BridgeIndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
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.