Proposed Underground Waste Disposal

– The Billingham Mine Waste Management Facility

NPL Estates Ltd, one of the UK’s leading brownfield land management and development companies, has agreed conditional terms with ICI to take over responsibility for the former Anhydrite Mine at Billingham.

The mine ceased to be a working entity in 1971 and was decommissioned in 1978, following which it has been under a management regime undertaken by owners ICI.

Leading Mining Consultants White Young Green entered the mine in September 2007 to assess if the conditions of the mine had deteriorated over the last 30 years.   The findings of this report which was received by NPL in February 2008 have shown no significant change.  

It is considered at this stage that the mine would be suitable for the disposal Fly Ash or Air Pollution Control Residues (APCR).    Furthermore NPL have entered into a legally binding agreement with ICI that the site would not be used for the types of waste previously considered by Nirex in the 1980s i.e. nuclear waste. Additional assurances that no nuclear waste would be permitted will be written into any planning agreement from Stockton Borough Council and Environment Agency permit.  Both are enforceable by law.

In a bid to widen stakeholder involvement NPL submitted a request for a Screening Opinion and received such from Stockton Borough Council in July 2008.   A period of wider community involvement was then undertaken in 2009. NPL have now considered the financial and technical viability of the project from the information available at this stage with specialist mine and environmental consultants and have submitted a planning application to Stockton Borough Council.

Exhibition and Public Consultation information is now incorporated into the relevant pages of this website.