Prime Minister Andy Burnham has announced that three of England's most severe illegal waste dumps, located in Kent, Surrey and West Yorkshire, will be assessed for clearance using public funds. The sites collectively hold roughly 22,000 tonnes of illegally dumped material, and the government says the move is intended to end years of blight faced by nearby residents. Ministers also confirmed that AI-powered drones will be deployed to detect illegal dumping as it happens, as part of a wider push to prioritise prevention alongside clean-up efforts.
Burnham said the sites in question had caused lasting harm to the areas around them, stating:
toxic dumps have blighted communities for too long
He added that the announcement fulfilled an earlier commitment, saying:
I said we would clean them up – and that's exactly what we're announcing today.
Burnham also framed the issue as a symbol of wider political neglect, saying:
These mountains of rubbish have been a clear sign to communities that politics hasn't been working for them or their area. This government is going to tackle the issues that have been ignored by Westminster for too long and bring back hope.
Alongside the clearance plan, ministers confirmed that fines for waste offences will jump sharply, from £300 to £5,000, in an effort to deter illegal dumping and punish offenders. The Environment Agency will also gain expanded powers to seize assets purchased with proceeds from waste crime.
Which sites have been identified for clearance?
The three locations named by the government are Power Station Road on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent, Aymer Close in Runnymede, Surrey, and Midland Road in Bradford, West Yorkshire. Officials say these sites represent some of the most serious cases of illegal dumping currently on record.
This builds on an earlier initiative from March 2026, when the government first pledged taxpayer funding to clear major illegal dumps totalling 48,000 tonnes across sites in Wigan, Sheffield and Lancashire, as previously reported. That earlier round of funding was welcomed by residents at the time, though campaigners noted several other large sites remained untouched and called for firmer enforcement action.
One of the country's most notorious sites sits in Burnham's own constituency of Makerfield, where a rotting, rat-infested mountain of waste has remained for more than 20 months despite being identified for clean-up in March alongside two other locations. Local residents say they have seen little improvement at the site since then, and during the byelection campaign that Burnham won earlier this year, some voters said they backed him specifically in the hope of seeing that site cleared.
How will enforcement and coordination change?
West Yorkshire and Greater Manchester have been chosen as the first regions to trial a new, region-led model for tackling waste crime. Under this approach, mayors and council leaders will take direct responsibility for coordinating councils, police forces, regulators and other enforcement bodies in their areas.
Burnham framed the reforms as a decisive shift in how illegal waste operations are confronted, saying:
The days of making easy money out of waste are over. We're giving authorities the powers to hunt down the people responsible. We will seize their assets and shut their operations down.
A newly formed waste crime crackdown group, chaired by Environment Secretary Angela Eagle, will bring together regulators and law enforcement agencies with the aim of dismantling organised criminal operations behind large-scale dumping. Eagle described the strategy as twofold, saying:
We are cleaning up sites, but we are also stopping the cycle, driving faster prevention and disruption, better intelligence, and stronger coordination across the system.
What has happened at other illegal waste sites recently?
The announcement follows a string of enforcement actions elsewhere in England. Four men were arrested on 4 August 2026 in connection with large-scale illegal dumping at the Bolton House Road site in Wigan, Greater Manchester, according to government figures.
Separately, the Environment Agency secured a six-month Restriction Order on 12 August 2026 covering Severnside Farm in Gloucester, barring anyone from entering the site or importing further waste there, as detailed by official enforcement records. In Bradford, an investigation into waste dumping connected to the Midland Road site was formally launched on 3 July 2026, according to government enforcement notices.
Waste crime has also intersected with public safety concerns elsewhere, including a fire at a suspected illegal waste dump near the River Mersey in Greater Manchester, which fire crews extinguished after an earlier incident this year that prompted a criminal investigation by the Environment Agency. Separately, hundreds of illegally dumped clinical waste vials were found on Isle of Sheppey beaches earlier this year, an incident that raised its own health and environmental concerns in the same area now targeted for clean-up, as reported at the time.
How widespread is the illegal waste problem nationally?
The scale of the issue extends well beyond the three newly announced sites. An investigation published in January 2026 found that around 517 illegal waste sites were still operating across England at the end of 2024, despite more than 700 such sites having been closed during the 2024/25 period, according to a national broadcaster's investigation. A more recent letter cited by a broadcaster's analysis of the agency's data puts the current total slightly higher, at around 537 illegal waste sites across the country.
The Environment Agency's own high-priority list currently names 117 locations of concern. Accounts differ on how many of these qualify as so-called super sites containing more than 20,000 tonnes of dumped waste: the same Sky News analysis puts the figure at 28, while a separate investigation from a national broadcaster identified 11 such supersites, according to its report on the warning list. That report also identifies one of the most significant sites nationally as a 281,000-tonne contaminated-soil mound in Northwich, Cheshire, far larger than any of the three locations named in the clean-up announcement. One further site, at Eastchurch on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent, is recorded as holding 36,000 tonnes of construction and demolition waste, according to the government's published site register.
What do opposition parties say?
The Green Party welcomed the crackdown in principle but argued that smaller-scale fly-tipping represents a bigger overall problem than the handful of headline dumps, and called for dedicated, ring-fenced funding to address it. A party spokesperson added:
We also need to boost the circular economy, so households and businesses are better able to reuse, repair, repurpose and recycle goods and make manufacturers and producers responsible for the safe disposal for the goods and packaging they produce,
Liberal Democrat environment spokesperson Tim Farron said tougher fines were a positive step but insisted waste crime was only one strand of a much larger systemic failure. He said:
Andy Burnham needs to wake up and smell the landfill,
Farron argued that regional powers alone would not be sufficient, saying:
New mayoral powers won't cut it if the National Crime Agency isn't empowered to clear these illegal sites, and stop legal sites spiralling out of control.
He called for a full independent review, adding:
We need an independent review of the whole system to crack down on these organised gangs once and for all.
The Conservatives and Reform UK have been contacted for comment. Reform UK has previously pushed for similar tougher measures, having called in June 2026 for fly-tipping fines to rise to £5,000, alongside vehicle seizures for repeat offenders and a national action day targeting littering, as the party proposed earlier this year.
The current reforms also extend an idea first floated in March 2026, when the government considered granting police-style powers to Environment Agency officials, including warrantless searches, asset seizures and arrest powers, as part of a broader enforcement overhaul.
What happens next?
The Restriction Order covering the Severnside Farm site in Gloucester is set to remain in force for six months from 12 August 2026, meaning it is due to expire around 12 February 2027 unless renewed. The newly announced clean-up of the three sites in Kent, Surrey and West Yorkshire is described by officials as the next phase of the government's national clear-up effort, with the sites now to be formally assessed ahead of clearance. Meanwhile, the Environment Agency has urged members of the public to report suspected illegal dumping via its 24-hour incident hotline on 0800 807060, or anonymously through Crimestoppers, according to official guidance issued alongside the Wigan arrests.
Key Facts
- Sites earmarked for clearance: Power Station Road, Isle of Sheppey (Kent); Aymer Close, Runnymede (Surrey); Midland Road, Bradford (West Yorkshire) — around 22,000 tonnes combined.
- Waste offence fines rising from £300 to £5,000, with new asset-seizure powers for the Environment Agency and AI-powered drones to be used for detection.
- West Yorkshire and Greater Manchester to pilot region-led enforcement led by mayors and council leaders.
- Estimates of active illegal waste sites in England range from around 517 (end of 2024) to about 537 more recently, with 117 on the Environment Agency's high-priority list, including a disputed count of 11 to 28 so-called supersites — among them a 281,000-tonne mound in Northwich, Cheshire.
- Gloucester's Severnside Farm Restriction Order runs until roughly 12 February 2027.
