Chalk Lagoons
SpecialLiquid / sludgeIndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
Chalk Lagoons is a historic (closed) landfill site recorded by the Environment Agency near Luton, Luton. It received special (hazardous), liquid/sludge, industrial, household, commercial and inert waste between 1940 and 1987, covering about 7.23 hectares. Reference EAHLD12554, October 2025 data revision.
Full record
| EA reference | EAHLD12554 |
|---|---|
| Site name | Chalk Lagoons |
| Address | Dallow Road, Luton, Bedfordshire |
| Site operator | Laporte Industries Limited |
| Licence holder | Laporte Industries Limited |
| Licence issued | 13 June 1977 |
| Licence surrendered | Not recorded |
| First waste input | 31 December 1940 |
| Last waste input | 20 January 1987 |
| Area | 7.23 ha |
| Gas control | Not recorded |
| Leachate containment | Not recorded |
| Licensed site | Yes |
| EA area | North East TH |
| Grid reference | 506500, 222100 |
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.
- Liquid / sludge:
- liquid wastes and sludges, such as sewage sludge or industrial effluent. Can be mobile in groundwater, so worth understanding.
- 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
- Croda WorksIndustrialCommercialInert
- Lye Trading EstateSpecialIndustrialInert
- Luton RoadIndustrial
- Folly LaneIndustrialInert
- LimburyWaste types not recorded
- LimburyWaste types not recorded
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.