House on a landfill

Fedcas65

Hello,

after immense disappointment, I discovered that in UK everyone builds over landfills, it doesn't even matter what it contains and most of them are dated prior to 2000, so no much info about them, the house is pretty recent.

The regulations were enforced around 1970 but it seems that developers can build anyway on top of them.

Apart contamination, it may cause subsidience.

I did my own search and I discovered the following, is it enough to prove that the materials inside are not dangerous?

I mean, just metals, things that don't decompose like food and household waste?

(look at inert=Yes)

Also, the bank approved the mortgage, shall I inform them or is it all good?

Normally, shouldn't the house be worth less? I see it as a big risk, especially in UK with tons of rain and many land movements.

user1977

If the house is "pretty recent", have you checked the planning papers to see how they dealt with contamination and ground conditions?

RelievedSheff

"Landfill" can cover many different situations.

It is most likely that what you are describing is an old quarry or opencast mine that has been backfilled with inert materials (arisings from nearby developments or on site excavations). It is very unlikely to be household waste which most people with no engineering background assume is landfill.

If the mortgage has been approved then there is no contaminated land problem. You can satisfy yourself by browsing through the documents on the planning portal.

BarelySentientAI

RelievedSheff said:

It is most likely that what you are describing is an old quarry or opencast mine that has been backfilled with inert materials (arisings from nearby developments or on site excavations). It is very unlikely to be household waste which most people with no engineering background assume is landfill.

Exactly this.

"Landfill" just means that it isn't the original ground surface and has been filled in (usually because something has been dug out).  Half of the Netherlands is technically "Landfill".

OP - you are thinking of household / commercial waste disposal, which are two of the categories not ticked on your screenshot.  It would also be very unusual for a site like that to only be active for 21 months.

Fedcas65

user1977 said:

If the house is "pretty recent", have you checked the planning papers to see how they dealt with contamination and ground conditions?

What do you mean by planning papers?

RelievedSheff said:

"Landfill" can cover many different situations.

If the mortgage has been approved then there is no contaminated land problem. You can satisfy yourself by browsing through the documents on the planning portal.

As far as I know, the mortgage dude barely checks the house existence, exceptions apply but I wouldn't know what he evaluated.

BarelySentientAI said:

RelievedSheff said:

It is most likely that what you are describing is an old quarry or opencast mine that has been backfilled with inert materials (arisings from nearby developments or on site excavations). It is very unlikely to be household waste which most people with no engineering background assume is landfill.

Exactly this.

"Landfill" just means that it isn't the original ground surface and has been filled in (usually because something has been dug out).  Half of the Netherlands is technically "Landfill".

OP - you are thinking of household / commercial waste disposal, which are two of the categories not ticked on your screenshot.  It would also be very unusual for a site like that to only be active for 21 months.

I also thought about the opening time of the site, quite unusual and it's also quite small to be a proper wasteland, the ones I've seen are very big sites, piled up on 100 meters or more of material, with full facility onsite (I don't know what they exactly they do but probably analysis) and far away from civilization, but not always .

Herzlos

You can always try and look for old maps of the area to see what was there before. If it's from the 90's then it's likely folk will remember if you can ask on a local-ish facebook group.

user1977

Fedcas65 said:

user1977 said:

If the house is "pretty recent", have you checked the planning papers to see how they dealt with contamination and ground conditions?

What do you mean by planning papers?

The reports etc submitted with the planning application for the development. You should be able to find it on the council's website - have you looked?

p00hsticks

Fedcas65 said:

user1977 said:

If the house is "pretty recent", have you checked the planning papers to see how they dealt with contamination and ground conditions?

What do you mean by planning papers?

RelievedSheff said:

"Landfill" can cover many different situations.

If the mortgage has been approved then there is no contaminated land problem. You can satisfy yourself by browsing through the documents on the planning portal.

As far as I know, the mortgage dude barely checks the house existence, exceptions apply but I wouldn't know what he evaluated.

BarelySentientAI said:

RelievedSheff said:

It is most likely that what you are describing is an old quarry or opencast mine that has been backfilled with inert materials (arisings from nearby developments or on site excavations). It is very unlikely to be household waste which most people with no engineering background assume is landfill.

Exactly this.

"Landfill" just means that it isn't the original ground surface and has been filled in (usually because something has been dug out).  Half of the Netherlands is technically "Landfill".

OP - you are thinking of household / commercial waste disposal, which are two of the categories not ticked on your screenshot.  It would also be very unusual for a site like that to only be active for 21 months.

I also thought about the opening time of the site, quite unusual and it's also quite small to be a proper wasteland, the ones I've seen are very big sites, piled up on 100 meters or more of material, with full facility onsite (I don't know what they exactly they do but probably analysis) and far away from civilization, but not always .

It sounds as if you are equating 'landfill' with 'household rubbish tip''- as others have pointed out. there are many other types of landfill.  

WheatOne

It looks to me that they have built the site up, presumably because it was a bit of a flood plain with the brook. I wonder is what the landfill entry refers to.
There is no sign of anything on the site at least as late as the 50s. Unfortunately aerial photos and detailed maps are difficult to find for free from the 60s to the 90s.

maps.app.  goo.gl/6nZ4rQ1c4Tfb7ize6
(remove gap to use link)

BarelySentientAI

WheatOne said:

Unfortunately aerial photos and detailed maps are difficult to find for free from the 60s to the 90s.

Satellite images and aerial photos are extremely easy to find for free in more recent years - which tends to cover the 90s.

Sporadic but decent coverage from the 80s.

Little before then.

WheatOne

BarelySentientAI said:

WheatOne said:

Unfortunately aerial photos and detailed maps are difficult to find for free from the 60s to the 90s.

Satellite images and aerial photos are extremely easy to find for free in more recent years - which tends to cover the 90s.

Sporadic but decent coverage from the 80s.

Little before then.

I've never found a site with comprehensive coverage pre 2000 and post war that doesn't charge.
Happen to have a link? 

There are plenty of individual images of low resolution images available but that is no good for looking at a specific uninteresting area.