The Saga of the Warboys Landfill Site 1891-2025
This exercise was prompted by a podcast by Michael Sheene (BBC Sounds. Buried – the last witness. June 2024) concerning a whistleblower who raised the alarm in 1972 on hearing about deaths of nine cows and seeing sick and deformed cows in a field near Brofiscin Quarry in Wales. Douglas Gowan was concerned that toxic chemicals had caused the defects and these chemicals are now known as PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls which include dioxins are ‘forever chemicals’). He was a former Assistant Parliamentary Secretary at the National Farmers Union and a researcher on PCBs. Because of what he said about the PCBs to the Environment Agency in 2006 he claimed he was beaten up, burgled, bribed, received death threats and had a smear campaign from Monsanto. He was told that PCBs were safe and that he didn’t know what he was talking about by Sir Richard Doll (an eminent scientist and the man who recognised that smoking was the cause of lung cancer) who was, in an attempt to discredit Gowan, employed as a consultant by Monsanto. This company were the only producers of PCBs and had dumped them in Brofiscin quarry and another. Douglas Gowan finally had to go to the witness protection programme. Monsanto lied about the effects of PCBs although they already knew about effects on inhabitants of Anniston, Alabama as well as deformities in cattle and wildlife in the USA. The Environment Agency “lost” Gowan’s data and government ministers (Secretary of State for Wales Peter Thomas) said in Parliament that Gowan had misled them and that all was safe. Baroness Young of the Environment Agency and Lord Rooker of DEFRA also claimed that the water at Brofiscin was safe in response to questions in parliament. Notably the Environment Agency’s own consultants had said pollution was occurring. Douglas Gowan was proved to be correct.
This is pertinent to the Warboys landfill site because of the illegal dumping of “special” (hazardous) waste in 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000 making it one of the most polluted sites in the UK, and the difficulty of getting answers from the Environment Agency and DEFRA.
To get to this point the history of the earlier brickworks needs to be addressed and its change to a landfill site.
In 1891 Alfred Fuller, who farmed at Humbrills farm rented from Lady Balcarres, bought a field from Lady Balcarres and later in 1893 started brick making on the site of the original knot hole. The brickworks opened in 1894. Over the next 5 years he had bought two more fields and the brickworks was extended. His son Cyril took over and with Ernest the Warboys Brick Company was formed in 1920. In 1923 they sold the business to BJ Forder and Son and this became the London Brick Company and Forders Ltd in the December of 1923. In 1936 the company became London Brick Co. Ltd, reflecting the dominance of the London Brick Company in brick making. In 1948 the London Brick Company ceased brick production at Warboys. They then produced building blocks until 1984 when Hanson Trust bought out London Brick Company and shortly afterwards closed Warboys Works. A few men transferred to the Whittlesey Works but the majority were made redundant. (This data taken from the book “The Warboys Whites” by Sally Pryke.)
Earlier, in 1976 the London Brick Company intended to use the worked out areas of the brick pit for disposal of “domestic, trade and industrial wastes including notifiable wastes”. The Approval for the landfill activity had been given by Cambridgeshire County Council who said that they had performed ‘all the usual preliminaries’ before granting permission. In 1976 two local farmers (SJ Armstrong and M Baldock) who had land adjacent were concerned on the potential of contamination to their farmland, joined in the Warboys Landfill Action Group which had been established in 1976. One of the Action Group’s stunts was to use many tractors to barricade the site entrance from incoming lorries. Because of the local concern the London Brick Company commissioned a Dr S Buchan (with some strange letters after his name including CBE which is not listed in the official gazettes) to produce a report on the safety of tipping in the site. He concluded that it would be safe provided adherence to many conditions. Tipping began on a local scale of mostly building and food waste, as the site was still a busy operational LBC works.
Later Shanks and McEwan produced in 1992 another proposal to dispose of inert and non-hazardous waste and restore the site by “infilling, creating a new landform to blend into the surrounding landscape and restoring the land to a productive or amenity use.” Their leaflet showed grazing sheep, a tractor harvesting and golf being played. The application was refused by Cambridgeshire County Council (CCC) in September 1992 on the grounds of unacceptable safety risks of the landfill gas on local residents and too many goods vehicles. Shanks and McEwan submitted a further proposal in 1993 which was approved by CCC. The Parish Council had been consulted and had not objected because only inert waste was to be tipped. The excavation site was flooded and attracted youngsters to swim despite the dangers and it would need to be filled.
The land was subsequently acquired by Fenside Waste Management in 1995 and tipping began in 1996. The decision document concerning the export of clay from excavation stated that nothing other than “inert, non-toxic, non-oily, non-readily putrescible material” shall be brought on site. A weight limit for Station Road was imposed by Cambridgeshire County Council to prevent HGVs using it to travel to and from the site (which had been happening) and that Fenside Road was to be the only access route. Around 1997 the Parish Council was consulted by the Environment Agency on an extension of waste categories that could be taken. The categories were defined by number and the term ‘hazardous’ was never used. The Parish Council objected to the extension, but were the only authority to do so.
In 1997 the village and surrounding areas started suffering from noxious odours and swarms of flies day and night, and large lorries from distant locations on village roads heading to and from the site. A village petition was raised against the landfill site with copies of the results forwarded to Hunts District Council, Cambridgeshire County Council, the Parish Council and the Environment Agency. The Parish Council invited the Environment Agency’s representatives to attend a meeting. During discussions it was revealed that “special” wastes were being dumped. Betty Ball, Sally Pryke and Joan Cole (all Parish Councillors) met in Betty’s kitchen and decided to call a Public Meeting in the Parish Hall. At the end of this meeting which was attended by over 200 local residents, volunteers were invited to join a reformed Warboys Landfill Action Group (WLAG). Many came forward including Rhona Allery (a founder member of the original WLAG). The village was very lucky in that there were some residents with expertise applicable to the cause, including Nigel Holmes, Brian Lake and John Dennis. There were concerns that the proximity of the village to the landfill site containing very toxic waste would create health problems including cancers and birth deformities.
It became apparent from research by the Parish Clerk Roy Reeves that the necessary environmental impact assessment had not been submitted when the extension of waste categories was applied for, and that the tipping of additional waste did require planning permission. Cambridgeshire County Council told Fenside Waste to make the application. It needs to be borne in mind that the County Council had not recognised the need for a new planning permission when the site operator had applied to the Agency for an extension of the categories of waste for tipping and that, consequently, tipping had been taking place illegally for a number of years.
In 2002 Fenside Waste applied for a variation in their permit to take hazardous waste (although they had already been taking such waste) to Cambridgeshire County Council. Concerted action by WLAG and the Parish Council the local MP Sir Brian Mahwinnie and the local County Councillor Victor Lucas resulted in strong local opposition at the planning committee meeting in May 2004 at Shire Hall. WLAG had paid for a bus to take villagers to the meeting and because of the numbers attending, the planning meeting had to be held in two rooms. By a narrow majority the application was refused despite approval being recommended by the Council’s planning officers. Fenside Waste were expected to appeal the decision.
A Public Meeting was held chaired by Sir Brian Mahwinnie involving Cambs CC, Hunts DC,the Parish Council, the Environment Agency and the Internal Drainage Board. At the end of the meeting a ‘bucket collection’ raised a lot of money for the cause. WLAG had urged the Parish Council to get legal representation at the expected appeal. The Parish Council informed the village via the Warboys Diary that they had voted to increase the village precept for one year only to help pay the legal costs of an expected Appeal by Fenside Waste. (as promised the precept was lowered by the same amount the following year). Early consultation with PIL (public interest lawyers) was discontinued and Alan Watson (Public Interest Consultants) was employed.
Fenside Waste did take the refusal to appeal and a Public Inquiry meeting lead by an independent inspector took place in 2005. The Parish Council and WLAG joined forces to fight the cause at the Public Inquiry with Alan Watson to represent the village. There was Parliamentary support from the new MP Shailesh Vara which has continued until 2024 when boundary changes meant he was no longer MP for Warboys. After several days sitting of the Public Inquiry the combined efforts of the barristers employed by the County Council at the inquiry and Alan Watson who pulled the evidence submitted by the site operator to shreds and their appeal collapsed. The chairman Inspector Simpson threw out the appeal, ruled the behaviour of the Appellants to be unreasonable and awarded full costs to all defendants.
In 2005 Fenside Waste was for sale and South Herts Waste Management were to buy, even though they had no experience of managing a landfill site. Eventually the Woodford Waste Management Group bought the site in April 2006 and planned to accelerate the breakdown of the deposited waste (hazardous and non-hazardous) with special treatment according to Dr Henry Clemmey of Woodford Special Projects (WWM Realizations Ltd). In 2007 there were differing legal opinions concerning whether hazardous waste could be deposited as had been done under the previous waste management licence. The County Council maintained that this was not allowed but solicitors for Woodford Waste Management (Dr Henry Clemmey) vigorously claimed to the contrary. Although they considered they could legally deposit hazardous waste they continued with non-hazardous waste and efficiently recycling wherever possible. Dr Henry Clemmey resigned in February 2009.
The site eventually came under the umbrella of Woodford Waste Management Services Ltd, Woodford Recycling Ltd and Synergen Ltd in 2010 with Mark Farren as Director who continued the tipping of non-hazardous waste to fill the remaining cells with the aim of making the site as safe as possible and eventually returning it to open space much as McEwan Shanks had proposed. Restoration began in September 2013 with seeding of a flower meadow. In 2014 tipping ceased, the landfill site was closed and the restoration continued. The landfill forum which had been decreed under the planning permission from Cambridge County Council was established to hold the operators to account. The forum was composed of county, district and parish representatives as well as the Environment Agency and Internal Drainage Board. As there was no longer any waste to monitor the Landfill Forum ceased, to be replaced with the Landfill Liaison Group to keep an eye on the restoration. In the meantime Woodford Recycling continue taking waste to recycle, which is done with 80-90% efficiency.
The site diaries for Fenside Waste show mostly no record in 1997, but 14 loads of contaminated soil were recorded on 23 August. Special waste was accepted in April 1998. Much of the other input was of feathers, animal fleshings and clinical waste throughout 1998 and 1999. Chemical drums, asbestos, flammable drums, resin, rat poison and oily sludge were shown in November 1999 and for much of 2000. From 2001 to 2003 various loads of contaminated soil and drums with noxious liquid were tipped.
Throughout there had been a problem of leachate (fluid in the landfill cells) which was above the limit imposed in the licence. Some of the cells showed many metres above the limit which suggested that there was a wall of water waiting to escape. Hydrogeologists from the Environment Agency explained that because the site sat on at least 60 metres of clay and the site was hydrogeologically contained since the new cells had the appropriate lining (in contrast to the earlier cells). The wall of water was in reality the equivalent of a large sponge and escape as a flood could not occur. The current situation is that more leachate pumps have been installed and the levels are reducing. The legal limit of leachate height has been (or will be) recalculated with the current view that the original limit was not achievable and the new limit will still retain hydrogeological safety. According to the EA this will be the same as other landfill sites.
WLAG were aware of Douglas Gowan and the tipping of hazardous Monsanto waste at that time and drew that to the attention of the landfill forum. PCBs had been found around the site and the Environment Agency said the Warboys landfill site was among the most polluted. The landfill gas contained very high concentrations of chlorinated compounds which meant that the gas engine oil required changing more frequently than normal. There was discussion concerning the hazardous waste and whether it should be removed from the site. Advice was sought and it was concluded that removal would create an even greater hazard to the village and surroundings. The Corby toxic waste scandal is an example of what might happen. It should be left.
In 2018 an application by the Larch Group and Sycamore to build a combined heat and power (CHP) plant on Woodford’s land adjacent to the recycling plant was submitted to Cambridgeshire County Council. The plan was to import waste for burning to heat water to make steam to drive a generator producing electricity. The heat was also to be diverted to evaporate leachate. Similar plants were being built in Meriden and Daventry. This type of process had not been tried in the UK and was totally untested. The results were theoretical yet planning permission was granted by CCC despite strenuous objections from WLAG, the parish council and residents of the village. Eventually the Daventry and Meriden plants were built and EA permits issued but the plants were never operational. The companies went into liquidation and the planning permission for Warboys lapsed without anything happening on the site.
In February 2023 there was a further proposal by Thermeco to build another waste incinerator plant to produce steam to drive a generator to produce electricity. This was to be situated on the same site as the earlier CHP plant. Initially Woodford Recycling were to provide about 20% of the feedstock (RDF), but in the new raft of documents in September 2024 Woodford Recycling would provide 100% of the RDF. The Parish Council called a public meeting to discuss their response and requested residents to write as well. The outcome of the application with the new documentation is awaiting the decision of the County Council planning committee which will not consider the application until mid 2025. In the meantime the Parish Council submitted a Call In request to the Secretary of State in March 2025.
The data contained in the history of the landfill site has been obtained from the BBC’s Sounds ‘Buried – The Last Witness’, articles in the Ecologist in 2007, ‘The Warboys Whites’ by Sally Pryke, official documents concerning the landfill site, committee minutes of the landfill forum and the landfill liaison group as well as Hansard.
Brian Lake, Betty Ball, Joan Cole and Sally Pryke February 2025