Plank Lane Site
SpecialLiquid / sludgeIndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
Plank Lane Site is a historic (closed) landfill site recorded by the Environment Agency near Golborne. It received special (hazardous), liquid/sludge, industrial, household, commercial and inert waste between 1965 and 1988, covering about 17.62 hectares. Reference EAHLD16474, October 2025 data revision.
Full record
| EA reference | EAHLD16474 |
|---|---|
| Site name | Plank Lane Site |
| Address | Slag Lane, Golborne, Wigan |
| Site operator | Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council |
| Licence holder | Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council Technical Services |
| Licence issued | 30 April 1986 |
| Licence surrendered | 6 April 1989 |
| First waste input | 31 December 1965 |
| Last waste input | 31 December 1988 |
| Area | 17.62 ha |
| Gas control | Yes |
| Leachate containment | Yes |
| Licensed site | Yes |
| EA area | South NW |
| Grid reference | 362700, 399600 |
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
- Adjacent to Leeds / Liverpool ConslCommercial
- Firsdale Industrial EstateWaste types not recorded
- Maypole Industrial SiteIndustrial
- PenningtonIndustrialCommercial
- Lowton SidingsWaste types not recorded
- Jacksons BrickworksSpecialLiquid / sludgeIndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
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.