'Rainham Volcano' landowner says council is hindering his plans

When Jerry O'Donovan bought Arnolds Field in east London in 2017, he said he paid for it in "good faith" and was unaware of its problems.

Since 2019, the former illegal landfill site in Launders Lane has caught fire more than 100 times, with issues dating back decades.

O'Donovan said he tried for seven years to fund a clear-up by developing part of the site, dubbed the Rainham Volcano, but said Havering Council had told him there was "no appetite" for his plan.

The council recently lost a court battle over its decision not to label Arnolds Field in Launders Lane, Rainham, as contaminated, which O'Donovan said left him with £55,000 in legal costs - one of the many additional expenses he has faced since purchasing the land.

The authority is now backing a temporary measure that he believes will not stop deep‑seated fires.

Last month, Havering Council said it planned to spray parts of the site with a cement-like, polymer solution to starve the ground of oxygen and temporarily put a stop to the fires.

It said the works, costing a maximum of £300,000 would be used across different areas of the site in a bid to stop or significantly reduce the fires.

O'Donovan, who was not responsible for the waste dumping on the site, said he was not invited to the council meeting in January when the action was agreed.

Havering Council said the landowner was consulted on the action prior to the public cabinet meeting, and his views were included in the report.

O'Donovan said he was concerned that the council's planned temporary polymer seal on the site would not stop deep‑seated fires and could delay ecological surveys needed for his planning application and site remediation.

A spokesperson for Havering Council said the polymer seal would minimise the air reaching underground and therefore minimise the fires. They said the temporary seal would allow vegetation to grow through and have "minimal or no adverse environmental or ecological impact".

They added that surveys could be carried out on the land not sealed, or the layer could be re-applied if the ground was disturbed.

"Either way, the welfare of the residents is far more important than any very limited impact on how the surveys are completed," they said.

A spokesperson for the Mayor of London welcomed the polymer seal as an "an early interim solution", adding, "City Hall will continue to engage with the council to find a long-term solution, including by participating in the council's working groups".

O'Donovan argued a permanent fix would be quicker and cheaper for the taxpayer if the council worked with him to remove the worst material, and offered his machinery and staff at cost price.

"All the money the council has wasted over the last seven years and the £300,000 they are now committing to spending is part of a vanity project," O'Donovan said.

"If they had the real interests for the local community and their health concerns they should have spent the money to remove a lot of the combustible material deposited under their watch, which would permanently remove the potential of the reoccurring fires."

Havering Council said after the land was designated as contaminated, its "priority" was to protect the health of residents and stop or substantially reduce the fires before summer begins.

They said permanent remediation works for the site would "take years to complete and are hugely expensive".

"The landowner could have done the necessary technical assessments himself and come up with an alternative to meet the timescale but still has not," the spokesperson added.

O'Donovan told Politics London that since 2019 he had tried to fund a full clean‑up of Arnold's Field by developing 25% of the site for his existing plant hire business in Havering. The remaining 75% would be for public use, he said.

"We asked to start remediation in 2019 and heard nothing back," he said.

And in 2021, following a pre-application for the site, he was told by the council "there was no appetite for our development", O'Donovan said.

Havering Council said that it had no record of receiving O'Donovan's email about remediation works in 2019, and because the land was designated green belt in 2021, development could only take place if "very special circumstances" were demonstrated.

The council spokesperson added: "Planning law is particularly clear in that, for planning breaches, it is the current owner of the land who is responsible for compliance, not previous owners.

"It was incumbent upon Mr O'Donovan to complete his own due diligence before purchasing the site in 2017.

"Nevertheless, as per the Defra statutory guidance relating to the official decision on contaminated land, the council is also pursuing engagement with any other interested parties regarding remediation."

The council added that no planning application has been submitted for the redevelopment of the site to date, which O'Donovan confirmed.

He said that this was partly due to "moving parts incurring significant additional costs", including the land's changing contamination status.

He said as part of the High Court judicial review, he spent £55,000 after he was "requested to support the council in defence".

Havering Council said O'Donovan was "likely referring to the costs of his own legal representation" as he was an "interested party".

"The council has paid exclusively for its own legal costs," a spokesperson added.

The Environment Agency said it had provided advice and guidance to help deal with Arnolds Field "but ultimately Havering Council is the lead authority on regulating the site and for monitoring air quality".

It added: "The Environment Agency successfully prosecuted three men in 2019 for dumping waste illegally in Launders Lane and four other locations. Two of the men were jailed; the third was given a suspended prison sentence – and almost £230,000 was paid back in a proceeds of crime order."

O'Donovan said he would be submitting a planning application for the site in due course.

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