Hoole Bank tar lagoon

The Hoole Bank tar lagoon and surrounding land is located within west Cheshire, at the eastern edge of the village of Hoole Bank, three miles north-east of Chester. The site was originally quarried for clay to supply a local brickwork manufacturing site.

During the 1950s and 60s, the site was used for the disposal of industrial waste. Most of the material deposited at the site was a by-product of historical oil refining processes and was known as acid tar waste.

The waste was disposed of by a company called Lobitos Oilfields Ltd, now known as Lubricants UK Limited (LUKL), and came from the company's Ellesmere Port refinery. At the time the disposal activity took place, it was an accepted and legal industry practice.

This practice of waste disposal was lawful at the time. Since then, environmental standards have improved, but the quarry still contains significant volumes of industrial waste.

Lubricants UK Limited (LUKL), which is now a bp company, has been identified by the Environment Agency as the appropriate party to undertake the safe remediation of the Hoole Bank tar lagoon site.

LUKL, working with environmental consultants Arcadis and the Environment Agency, is developing a plan to remediate the Hoole Bank tar lagoon and surrounding land. The main objective of the remediation work is to reduce or remove the risk of environmental impacts from the site.

The Environment Agency is the regulator for contaminated land sites designated as special sites. They would need to be satisfied that remediation being undertaken voluntarily is to an appropriate standard.

The Council, as the local planning authority, would consider any planning applications associated with proposed remediation work. The Council will also be ensuring the views of its residents and businesses are taken into account in relation to any remediation works.

Find out more

If you have a question about Hoole Bank tar lagoon and the remediation work being developed, visit the LUKL website: