Coastal Landfill Working Group

We all recognise the devastating impacts of coastal erosion, flooding and pollution across our coastline, however, there has been little acknowledgement of the “hidden silent ticking time bombs” that coastal landfill sites present.

There are hundreds of coastal landfill sites across the UK which are at risk of tidal flooding and erosion. I have visited several of these and continue to be overwhelmed by the scale of the problem. It is quite difficult for me to understand how, despite years of lobbying and the release of the 25 year Environment Plan in 2018, there is still no clear national policy or funding provision to protect these sites from eroding or leaching out onto the often designated natural coastal environment. Many sites around the country are fronted by failing defences or in some cases never had defences in front of them in the first place. I truly hope that this matter gets the attention from government that it deserves in order to avoid environmental catastrophe in the near future

Mark Stratton, LGA Coastal SIG Officer Lead for Coastal Landfill and Coastal Manager at Coastal Partners