Landfill Check

Shelford Sandpit

SpecialHouseholdCommercialInert

Shelford Sandpit is a historic (closed) landfill site recorded by the Environment Agency near Canterbury, Kent. It received special (hazardous), household, commercial and inert waste from 1976, covering about 64.53 hectares. Reference EAHLD19824, October 2025 data revision.

Full record

EA referenceEAHLD19824
Site nameShelford Sandpit
AddressCanterbury, Kent
Site operatorRobert Brett and Sons Limited
Licence holderBrett and Sons
Licence issued1 January 1976
Licence surrenderedNot recorded
First waste input31 December 1976
Last waste inputNot recorded
Area64.53 ha
Gas controlYes
Leachate containmentNot recorded
Licensed siteYes
EA areaKent SO
Grid reference615900, 160300

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.
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

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.