The Environment Agency (EA) has been granted a restriction order to shut Britain’s latest large-scale illegal dump due to “serious harm to human health” and fire concerns.
The 300m (984 feet)-long site, which lies next to the M25 outside Epping in Essex, is set to be shut on Thursday after today’s court decision.
Barkingside Magistrates Court also heard that the registered landowner on the site, Patrick Culligan, alleged in an email to the EA that he was not the site’s owner, and denied illegally dumping on the site.
Mr Culligan said he did not object to the restriction order.
Land Registry records show Mr Culligan bought the land in October 2003 for £77,000.
The restriction order prohibits access to the site near Stapleford Tawney to all individuals with exceptions for emergency services, utility workers and EA staff.
The court heard that there had been smoking within the waste with “potential for combustion”. There is also a major mains gas pipe buried under the site.
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Satellite images obtained by Sky News show the seven-acre site completely green in October 2024.
Some 11 months later, there was some excavation activity visible, with dumping beginning in a small part of the field next to the motorway.
Within a matter of months, the site has been filled several metres deep with processed building and domestic waste.
The rubbish tumbles down into a small tributary that runs into the River Roding, which feeds the River Thames.
The EA said it started investigating the site last February, but dumping was taking place at the site right up until the start of this month.
A local resident shared photographs with Sky News of waste being dumped on 6 February.
The resident stopped at the site after spotting a lorry stuck in mud, but phoned 999 after realising rubbish was being illegally dumped.
Essex Police confirmed that they had arrested a 55-year-old from Horley, Surrey, and a 25-year-old from Mullaghbawn, County Armagh. The lorry, two mobile phones and a laptop were seized as evidence.
The local MP, Alex Burghart, previously told Sky News that the EA has “very serious questions to answer”.
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He said: “It’s completely disgraceful that this site should ever have been allowed to get into this condition.
“Something has clearly gone badly wrong in this case”.
Barry Russell, from the EA, told Sky News last week: “I share the public’s anger at waste crime, where those responsible have no care for the environment.
“Thanks to the person who rang 999, and the quick work of Essex Police, my environmental crime team are using the arrests and seizures to continue investigating this suspected illegal waste dump.”
