The fly-tipping occurred on green belt land at Waldens Farm, which is made up of approximately 800 small ‘leisure plots’ across 70 acres of land.
Neighbourhood Investigation Officers, supported by the Metropolitan Police, executed two warrants to gain access to the privately owned land, where they discovered extensive mounds of burnt waste hidden in wooded areas.
According to the council, the scale of the deposits suggested that hundreds of tonnes of material may have been illegally disposed of at the site over a sustained period.
A council spokesperson said: “It appears that an illegal industrial scale waste disposal operation has been set-up.”
“We are limited by what we can share at this time as our investigation work continues but we will also look at the serious environmental damage that will no doubt have been caused as well.
“We would like to thank the police for their ongoing support in this work, including in this operation.”
One arrested for Bromley waste dumping
A man was arrested during the operation, and the council has erected intention-to-close notices under section 76 of the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014.
These notices set out the proposed closure of the site due to “substantial public nuisance and environmental harm resulting from persistent unlawful activities”.
In total, four vehicles were seized from within the estate: two flatbed tippers, a mini skip van and a box panel van. Depending on the outcome of the investigation, all four could be crushed.
A Metropolitan Police spokesperson added: “Environmental crime is a serious concern and working closely with the council to support their work is part of the way that we help tackle this locally as part of the Bromley Safer Partnership.
“It is a stark reminder as well to us all to carefully check the credentials of anyone we are proposing to use, to dispose of waste, including checking they are a licensed waste carrier, to help ensure that waste is properly disposed of.”
Waste crime enforcement under scrutiny
The discovery in Bromley comes as national attention on waste crime continues to intensify.
Earlier this year, a House of Lords committee urged the government to commission an independent review of its approach to the issue, warning that the current enforcement system is “no longer fit for purpose”.
In a letter to Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds, peers expressed “deep concern” over the adequacy of existing arrangements, pointing to weaknesses in the Environment Agency’s performance, the limited impact of the Joint Unit for Waste Crime and what it described as a longstanding lack of police engagement.
Baroness Sheehan, who led the Lords inquiry, said the committee had been “increasingly alarmed” by media reports of major illegal waste sites emerging across the country.
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