Buying a house built on a Landfill

NibblyPig

Finding information about this is like pulling teeth!

So the environmental search came back saying my house is built directly over a landfill for household waste. There's an indemnity policy from the previous seller. But trying to find literally anything other than what that sentence has provided is painful.

I wonder if anyone has any advice? I e-mailed the environmental agency, but I'm trying to establish when the house was built, I would guess around 1990. Surely in this modern world we have this knowledge?

I spent an hour googling to see if I could find historic maps but the most recent I can find is 1970 which doesn't have the road/development on it. It doesn't have landfill labelled on it either, just a blank area of land.

I would have thought there would be a way to view historical maps for each year, or find when the house was built and search for the original planning details, but I can't find out a single crumb of information other than 'landfill, household'.

Can anyone give me any advice?

Bluebell1000

If there's a local Facebook group, you might find someone who can help?

CSI_Yorkshire

Google Earth has historical satellite and aerial images that you can go backwards through, but what dates they have available are irregular.

NibblyPig

CSI_Yorkshire said:

Google Earth has historical satellite and aerial images that you can go backwards through, but what dates they have available are irregular.

Thanks, just gave that a try, goes back to 2001 which is pretty cool! But sadly not quite far enough

Slinky

Have you tried visiting old pubs in the area which may attract locals who have lived in the area for years and know what was there before? Or alternatively are there some older houses nearby where you could go and do some door knocking to find out what they know? It can be useful just asking questions of locals sometimes. Our surveyor established there had been underpinning on the extension on our house by talking to the neighbour

NibblyPig

Slinky said:

Have you tried visiting old pubs in the area which may attract locals who have lived in the area for years and know what was there before? Or alternatively are there some older houses nearby where you could go and do some door knocking to find out what they know? It can be useful just asking questions of locals sometimes. Our surveyor established there had been underpinning on the extension on our house by talking to the neighbour

Yeah I might have to go door to door, which is a pain as I'm buying a place several hours drive away lol

chrisw

Many historic landfills pre date the waste licensing regime which came in to force in 1974. Before that there was no requirement to keep records of the type of waste buried so they could contain anything, and often did.

If you can find details of the planning permission for the house from the local authority then some sort of assessment should have been carried out at the time the house was built.

YoungBlueEyes

A town I used to live in had the original-way-back-when dump, and we thought it was great fun playing on it. If enough of you jumped on a lump at the same time you could make it 'fart'. In certain weather conditions you could watch it move by itself. There's a load of big swish houses on it now.

(I'm not the troglodyte that first sentence made me sound like )

Can you view the local paper online? That might have a 'historical photos' section, or details of a local history society. Short of talking to auld fellahs in pubs/proper hardware shops, that might give you some good info. 

user1977

What investigations have you made about the planning history so far?

Gloriwulf

Search online for contact details of the county record office or archive (there is a list on the National Archives website). The district council that dealt with the original development may have deposited their planning or building control records there. They may also hold maps or records of the decommissioning of the landfill site. You will probably find that most of those records will not be online and you may need to visit or request copies. No guarantees the records survive but worth a try if the district council no longer holds them. 

NibblyPig

Thanks, what I got from the planning was basically this:

LC01/0540/82
ERECTION OF DWELLINGS AND GARAGES (OUTLINE) (DEPARTURE). (PROPOSAL UNDER REGULATION 5 OF THE TOWN &
COUNTRY PLANNING GENERAL REGULATIONS 1976).
MOUNTFIELDS, LAND ADJOINING 63 MOUNT STREET
GRANTED CONDITIONALLY 21/12/1982
REGISTERED IN THE LAND CHARGES REGISTER 21/12/1982
2 LC01/0050/86
ERECTION OF DWELLINGS AND GARAGES (PROPOSAL UNDER REGULATION 5 OF THE TOWN & COUNTRY PLANNING GENERAL
REGULATIONS 1976) (OUTLINE).
MOUNTFIELDS, LAND ADJOINING 63 MOUNT STREET
GRANTED CONDITIONALLY 14/04/1986
REGISTERED IN THE LAND CHARGES REGISTER 14/04/1986
3 LC01/0498/86
MOUNTFIELDS, LAND ADJOINING 63 MOUNT STREET
ERECTION OF 37 BUNGALOWS AND HOUSES WITH ASSOCIATED GARAGES.
GRANTED CONDITIONALLY 27/10/1986
REGISTERED IN THE LAND CHARGES REGISTER 30/10/1986

However going to the planning site, those reference codes don't return any results.  Maybe they are not digitised?

The house I am buying would be one of those bungalows