London Fire Brigade said around 55 tonnes of landfill waste was on fire in 2020
(Picture: LFB)It hits you as soon as you step off the train at Rainham Station. The stench of landfill, burning tyres, drifts for miles.
A Havering council refuse collector noting my scrunched-up nose says “that’s Launders Lane” and points in the vague direction of the illegal tipping site which has seen repeated fires over the past ten years.
After initially spotting a huge purple cloud hanging over swathes of outer east London on BreezOmeter - signifying the worst air pollution that could be recorded - I headed there to speak to people living for years directly underneath it.
Horror stories quickly emerge with locals claiming a child who was exploring the smouldering field in Launders Lane that spews gas and flames from deep underground had his shoes fuse to their feet from the heat. They were hospitalised and required a skin graft.
Another says he was told by firefighters that one fireman trying to tackle a blaze was nearly swallowed up and only just pulled out of harm’s way by a colleague.
Since then firefighters have installed a pump to tackle it safely from a distance.
“It’s awful, if I’m honest”, says mother-of-two Karina Falzon. “We’ve lived here for 15 years and the past two have been the worst. It’s now affecting people’s health.
“My ten year-old son has a rare cancer and for the past two days he has woken up with a sore throat and is complaining about the smell of burning.
“I can’t even open our windows. We’re in winter so I dread to think what it will be like in the summer.”
Experts believe it could cost as much £10million to finally put out the fire with cash-strapped Havering council only saying they will closely monitor air pollution levels for a year - but Mrs Falzon wants results now.
“The council can no longer shy away from this. It’s now making people ill,” she explains.
“My son can’t afford to be ill, so I won’t rest until something is done. People need to be held accountable.”
Resident David Burman described the smell as “acrid” leaving a “burning sensation in the back of your throat”. He said: “It’s hard to tell what the consequences these toxins are leaving me with.
“I have lived in Rainham for over 25 years, my whole family live here so I would be reluctant to move away.”
Mrs Doyle, who has also lived “on the front line” of Launders Lane for 25 years, said her young son suffers from Kawasaki disease – a rare disorder that affects blood vessels.
“He has had it since he was 2. We don’t know what caused it but it’s really dangerous. He now has a permanent heart condition.
“Doctors don’t know what causes Kawasaki’s maybe it is chemicals, maybe it’s the fire.
“We moved out here because we saw all the greenery and thought how lovely it all is but this is like living under a death sentence really.”
Havering council leader Ray Morgon told ITV News the council “just hasn’t got the money” to deal with the issue that lies on private land - so nothing has been done.
Dave Read, 37, who moved in two years ago, said: “Our councillors have gone AWOL and we are just left here to breathe it in.
“My mum had lung cancer. She is in remission at the moment but has to have six month check-ups and sitting out here can’t be good for her.”
He added: “The amount of respiratory illnesses that are going on just in this close – it’s insane.
“It’s a scandal but no-one will do it anything about it.
“We are going round in circles, we know what the problem is but no-one will act. It needs to be done yesterday.
“Before I moved in two years ago, my dog was healthy, my mum was healthy. Now my dog is dead and my mum has lung cancer.
“A perfectly healthy 38-year-old woman nearby had a stroke, another has died.
“Everyone has respiratory problems round here there’s too much going on to be coincidental but how do we prove it?”
He added: “It’s like a meme, they are trying to earn money from ULEZ but there is a huge fire literally raging behind them.”
Steve Jobson, 63, who has lived next to Launders Lane for 27 years, said if the cloud of air pollution was hovering over other more affluent areas in London it would be solved instantly.
He said: “It’s maddening.
“We didn’t know what was burning, it was just a fire. We thought it was just rubbish but I think there must be more than that.
“There are more fires than they say. There is a new one nearly every day in summer.
He added: “It needs bulldozing and taking somewhere else. I don’t know how you deal with it to be honest.”
London Fire Brigade explain that Launders Lane keeps reigniting due to the build-up of heat from rubbish dumped at the site now said to be as tall as three houses stacked on top of each other.
On Friday children played football next to the cricket club under the shadow of the tip which quickly rose over the past 20 years even blocking off residents’ views of the 137m high Queen Elizabeth II bridge.
One dog walker, who lived in the area since 1964, remembers a time when she would play by the stream in Launders Lane as a child.
“The Irish used to come down and play their hurling game on Sundays,” she said. “It was a beautiful stream that has gradually been built up with rubbish.
“It just grew up and up! People used to dump there because it is right on the border of Havering. I’m used to the fumes and the smell but I do worry about the children that play here all the time.”
Linda Sinfield, 74, has lived next to the site for 48 years with her husband Terry and takes a handwritten diary of every fire stretching back years.
She said: “It’s too late for us. We are always coughing continuously. You don’t realise what we have been through.
“It’s a long story without an ending in sight. The smell is out there again this morning, it suddenly hits you, it makes your eyes water.
We’ve been trying to move away for ten years but we still love it here. We love the people round here and we don’t want to be forced to move.
Looking at her diary, she says “I remember a huge gas explosion in 2020 it was like a bomb going off. This gas canister got too hot and jumped in the air and went off. I think it all started then.
“I’ve been on to the Environment Agency for years they are all useless - they all move jobs and nothing ever gets done.”
Her husband Terry, 77, takes out a handkerchief to shield his chesty cough as he praises his wife’s tenacious documenting of the inferno.
“When it’s affecting people’s health you have to find the money,” he says. “Cost is nothing. You should be free to walk outside in this country but it gets so bad you have to lock yourself in.”
London Fire Brigade’s Borough Commander for Havering, Paul McClenaghan, said his crews have attended more than 70 fires at the site since 2018.
He said: “The fires are distressing for the local community and are putting firefighters at unnecessary risk.
“Local communities deserve a long-term solution to the problem and we are part of a working group, alongside the council and the Environment Agency, that seeks to resolve this long-running issue.
“We will continue to send crews to assess the fire and we will respond appropriately so firefighters can ensure the fire does not spread any further.”
An Environment Agency spokesperson said: “We have provided advice and guidance to help deal with the site and will continue to do so, but ultimately the London Borough of Havering is the lead authority on regulating the site and for monitoring air quality.
“The Environment Agency brought a successful prosecution against those responsible for illegal waste deposits in 2019 at the Launders Lane site as part of a 2014 operation.”
When approached for comment Havering council pointed to a previous statement from council leader Ray Morgon released last month.
In it he said: "We are keen to monitor this site for a much longer period to take in the full year, including the summer months, to get a full and accurate picture of exactly what is happening.
“We have also appointed a second contractor to look at the emissions in more detail which will allow us to understand the precise levels of specific pollutants that might be generated by the fires.”
Mr Sinfield adds: “Why do we have to rely on the people monitoring to tell us it’s affecting our health. We already know it is.
“Why should we have to wait for another year?
“I’d like to see that monstrous hill taken down and made back into farmland.
“We grow all our vegetables here but they are probably contaminated too.”
To donate to the Launders Lane community fund click here.
