Despite Residents Anger, Health Concerns And Broken Promises Launders Lane Remains Unsolved As The Court Case Begins Tomorrow.

By Ruth Kettle-Frisby – Guest Writer and Community Activist

Ruth is passionate about fostering positive change within the local community and regularly contributes insights and stories to The Havering Daily.

Tomorrow at The Royal Courts of Justice a legal proceeding will start against Havering Council asking them to remake their decision that designates Arnolds Field/Launders Lane as not contaminated land.

This proceeding is being done by Ruth Kettle-Frisby and other local mums who desperately care about the health of those in this borough. Today’s she writes in the Havering Daily:

In the lead up to the landmark Launders Lane court case tomorrow, i have obtained crucial information via a Freedom of Information request (FOI) regarding the public nuisance abatement notice that Havering Council placed on the Landowner and subsequently removed in the absence of any public explanation.

The FOI makes clear that:

“The landowner of Arnolds Field in Launders Lane, Jerry O’Donovan of DMC Services’ letter to Havering Council setting out their plan for stopping the fires by 31 December 2024, to then be implemented by April 2025.”

Residents may recall that Havering Council withdrew the abatement notice on the basis that the landlord would actually do something to stop the fires, in line with the above: a plan by December 2024 to be implemented next month.

However, a letter from DMC Services dated December 19 2024 makes clear that nothing is being done to stop the fires in the short-term. The landowner rejects the recommendations by the TRL Ltd report of capping the site with concrete, and the prospect of remediation remains tied to “development proposals” given that the site is greenbelt land, we are yet to see evidence of a decision or timeline regarding these proposals.

In the recent update dated March 14 2025, Cllr Ray Morgon confirms that “they have not yet submitted a formal planning application”.

This means, that the combined efforts of both DMC Services and Havering Council have got precisely nowhere up to this point.

It remains a mystery as to why Havering Council removed the abatement notice, and with it any accountability from the landowner to clean up an illegal rubbish site ready erupt all over again, seriously impacting the health of completely inculpable children in Rainham.

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