Peckfield Landfill - liquidation

We are aware that the court decided on 05 August 2026 in favour of Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in their winding up petition against Caird Peckfield Ltd, the operator of Peckfield Landfill, Micklefield.

An HMRC winding-up petition is legal action taken by HMRC to force a company into compulsory liquidation due to unpaid tax debts. It is a court-based process to shut down the business, sell its assets, and repay creditors.

As a result, Caird Peckfield Ltd has gone into compulsory liquidation and the liquidator has disclaimed the environmental permit. The effect of the disclaimer is that the environmental permit has ceased to exist.

The appointed liquidator is now the landowner and it is responsible for preventing pollution at the site.

We continue to monitor developments at the site, and our priority is to minimise any impact on the environment and community. We are aware of the environmental risks from the site and have been proactively taking steps to assess this risk.

We have discretionary powers to take action to prevent serious pollution should we deem it necessary. We continue to assess the longer-term environmental risks from the landfill, and if necessary, we can access funding from the Financial Provision to prevent serious pollution. Financial Provision is part of a company’s environmental permit, which means it must set aside funds for long-term closure, restoration and aftercare.

The landfill is no longer accepting waste and is capped with an engineered barrier. The management of gas extraction is done by a third-party company and we have received assurance from the third party that this will continue.

We previously received an application to transfer the environmental permit to a new operator. However, despite multiple requests for further information, our permitting service did not receive all of the required information and so the application was deemed withdrawn. The environmental permit was therefore not transferred.

We will continue to keep you informed of any developments at this site.