Legal action underway against council over illegal landfill

Ruth Kettle-Frisby, co-founder of Clear The Air In Havering has officially filed a claim against Havering Council over an illegal landfill site at Launders Lane, Rainham. 

The site is made up of around 25, 12-13m deep pits containing an estimated 30,000 to 40,000 cubic metres of unregulated waste which has been found to contain sulphate, lead and benzo(a)pyrene. But it is not so much the contents of the tip that is concerning Rainham residents but the effects of the smoke from the fires that break out on a regular basis.

🔥⚠️🆘Havering Council have decided not to designate the landfill as contaminated land. Our lawyers confirm that we have strong grounds to argue that this decision was made without taking into account the relevant factors: 1/4 pic.twitter.com/GkT6Brxveb

— Clear The Air In Havering (@HaveringAir) September 24, 2024

 Above: A post by Clear The Air In Havering after hearing of the Council’s decision last month.

In essence, the tip has been on fire beneath the surface for ten years, with regular break-outs that require the fire service to attend – 80 times in one 12 month period.

A survey carried out in 2011 described the site as a potential threat to health but it has taken the Council until July this year to decide that the site need  not be designated as contaminated, a decision that has sufficiently serious repercussions, that the current legal case has been brought.

Legal firm Mishcon de Reya, which is working with Clear The Air In Havering in their legal action, point out that had the site been designated as contaminated, then the council and the Environment Agency would have a legal duty to ensure the site was cleaned up, and would have the power to undertake the work themselves should the owner of the land refuse.

Emily Nicholson, partner at Mishcon de Reya, said: ‘We believe that there are strong grounds to challenge the council’s decision not to designate the land as contaminated: that the council failed to take into account a number of significant factors, relied on flawed data and inconclusive evidence and didn’t properly consider the impact on the physical and mental health of local residents.

‘It is clear that without this legal action the situation would not change. Only last month the council withdrew an abatement notice against the landowner of the site, citing a new verbal agreement that the landowner would take some unspecified steps to seek to prevent the fires before April 2025. As it is understood, the council and residents have no means to enforce this agreement, so if the steps taken are not sufficient to stop the fires then the community is back where it started once more, and facing yet another summer of fires on the site.’

Ruth Kettle-Frisby said: ‘Ever since I found out about this appalling situation in Launders Lane, my heart has gone out to my neighbouring residents in Rainham. I have done everything I can to reach out to find a way of expediting a solution to putting out the fires in order to protect Rainham children who deserve to breathe clean air as much as any other child.

‘After years of neglect, while the council and landowner have batted responsibility back and forth, issuing this claim is a tremendous step forward. The council will not be able to ignore this legal challenge and must face up to the reality of this dire situation and take responsibility where it’s due.

‘If our claim is successful, the council will have to remake their decision on whether the land is contaminated or not based on a much more thorough and comprehensive assessment of the evidence and risks of the toxic air pollution from the fires to the health and safety of local residents based on correct data.

‘Both I and the Clear the Air in Havering action group are extremely grateful for the donations made to our CrowdJustice page, and to Law for Change for their support, which allowed us to raise enough funds to progress this claim. This action has been a last resort for us, as residents of Rainham have been trying tirelessly to resolve this issue with the council and landowner for decades, to no avail.

‘Rainham is one of the most deprived areas of London and is a dumping ground for developments such as quarries that directly and indirectly pollute the air, however it is my conviction that clean air should be a human right; not a privilege that is dependent on where you live. Rainham children – especially those with existing health conditions and disabilities – are living at the sharp end of this crisis.

‘Rainham residents deserve justice and they are the reason I have issued the claim; they have suffered for too long and deserve to play outside without feeling that their throats are on fire.’