A court order is now in place prohibiting anyone from importing waste to the site known as “The Old Cricket Ground” in Bickershaw.
The Restriction Order was granted at Wigan Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday 25 February and will last six months.
Access to the premises is also prohibited, subject to certain exceptions including Environment Agency access and for the removal of waste. Failure to comply with this order is a criminal offence.
The application for the order was made as part of the Environment Agency’s ongoing response to illegal waste dumping at a site at Bolton House Road in Bickershaw.
It was granted after the investigation revealed scrap metal waste was being removed from the Bolton House Road site on to this nearby land.
Ongoing response to illegal waste site
Mark Easedale, Area Environment Manager at the Environment Agency, said:
We’ve taken action to restrict access to this land as part of our ongoing response to the nearby illegal waste site at Bolton House Road.
We have immense sympathy for the local community affected by this waste crime, which continues to have an impact on the people who live and work in the area.
We are doing everything within our powers to identify the perpetrators, including launching a major criminal investigation and interviewing individuals under caution.
The Environment Agency is working in partnership with Wigan Council, Greater Manchester Police and Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service to help manage the site at Bolton House Road.
A series of interventions have already been made to prevent additional waste from being dumped illegally.
A number of individuals have been interviewed under caution and formal notices have been served requiring the waste to be removed, as well as notices served requiring further information. The criminal investigation is ongoing.
Any members of the public who have information relating to the illegal deposit of waste at this site should call the Environment Agency incident number on 0800 80 70 60.
The restriction order comes just after new measures were announced to stop waste criminals before they even get started, including an enhanced 33-strong drone squad and an expansion of the Joint Unit for Waste Crime (JUWC) to 20 officers.
In the three years up to March 2025, the Environment Agency secured 211 prosecutions against waste criminals, resulting in more than £640,000 in fines and 20 custodial sentences.
In the last two months alone, EA investigations have led to 18 arrests linked to waste crime.