The Caves Site
SpecialCommercialInert
The Caves Site is a historic (closed) landfill site recorded by the Environment Agency near Maidstone, Kent. It received special (hazardous), commercial and inert waste between 1977 and 1992, covering about 1.05 hectares. Reference EAHLD19602, October 2025 data revision.
Full record
| EA reference | EAHLD19602 |
|---|---|
| Site name | The Caves Site |
| Address | Hollingbourne, Maidstone, Kent |
| Site operator | Not recorded |
| Licence holder | Hales Containers Limited |
| Licence issued | 14 June 1977 |
| Licence surrendered | 1 April 1994 |
| First waste input | 13 December 1977 |
| Last waste input | 31 December 1992 |
| Area | 1.05 ha |
| Gas control | Not recorded |
| Leachate containment | Not recorded |
| Licensed site | Yes |
| EA area | Kent SO |
| Grid reference | 582200, 154400 |
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.
- 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.
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.