Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to (a) mitigate pollution from historic landfills and (b) facilitate the remediation of landfill sites in Knowsley constituency.

Responsibility typically lies with the landowner to maintain systems that prevent pollution. Under Part 2A of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, local authorities are primarily responsible for managing contaminated land, including designating historic landfills. If a historic landfill site is designated as a ‘special site,’ the Environment Agency (EA) can require remediation and continues to support local authorities in fulfilling their duties.

The EA regulates two permitted landfill facilities in Knowsley, in line with issued permits:

• Marl Road (an inert waste closed landfill), which stopped recieving waste in the 1990’s. There is no requirement within the permit to remediate. Following a site visit in 2024, the EA observed that the site is covered with vegetation.
• Cronton Quarry (an inert waste operational landfill), which will be depositing waste for a further 3-4 months as a disposal operation. The site will then move into the restoration phase. These restoration works involve depositing of waste as part of an ongoing programme of remediation.