Havering Council’s strategic planning committee is recommended to approve plans to extend the operational life of the Veolia site, in Coldharbour Lane, at a meeting next Thursday (July 10).
This means that at least another one million cubic metres of non-hazardous waste is intended to be dumped there until December 31 2029.
According to a council report published ahead of the meeting, the landfill mound will then be levelled off to allow for the “greening” of the site for use as a public open space by the end of 2031.
If the application was to be granted, one of the conditions is that the land is transferred from waste company Veolia to the council for use as a “water sports facility”.
The proposals were previously brought before the strategic planning committee in May, and were recommended for approval at the time.
However, a decision on the application was deferred after Councillor Matt Stanton, who represents the Beam Park ward, made a speech objecting to the proposals, while five other committee members voted to delay.
Alongside this application, the committee is also expected to grant permission for the compound area of the site to continue running for “decades” after the landfill operations stop.
READ MORE: Water sports facility proposed opposite Rainham landfill
According to the report, this area “manages the gradual release of landfill gas and the collection and treatment of leachate [contaminated water]” and therefore needs to continue running for another 40 to 50 years – or until “post-closure emissions are suitably stabilised”.
The Coldharbour Lane landfill is located on the bank of the River Thames and stretches out over 177 hectares.
It is run by Veolia ES – a French transnational waste company – and was first granted planning permission as a landfill site in 1997, after many years operating “largely uncontrolled”, according to a previous council report.
Waste disposal was previously supposed to stop at the end of December 2024, after Veolia was granted an extension in 2012.
