Landfill Check

Petches Bridge

Liquid / sludgeHouseholdCommercial

Petches Bridge is a historic (closed) landfill site recorded by the Environment Agency near Braintree, Essex. It received liquid/sludge, household and commercial waste between 1992 and 1994, covering about 0.2 hectares. Reference EAHLD01693, October 2025 data revision.

Full record

EA referenceEAHLD01693
Site namePetches Bridge
AddressWeathersfield, Braintree, Essex
Site operatorAnglian Water Services Limited
Licence holderAnglian Water
Licence issued31 December 1977
Licence surrenderedNot recorded
First waste input31 December 1992
Last waste input27 April 1994
Area0.2 ha
Gas controlNot recorded
Leachate containmentNot recorded
Licensed siteYes
EA areaEastern AN
Grid reference569900, 231100

Source: Environment Agency Historic Landfill Sites dataset, October 2025 revision.

Boundary map

What these waste types mean

Liquid / sludge:
liquid wastes and sludges, such as sewage sludge or industrial effluent. Can be mobile in groundwater, so worth understanding.
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.

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.