King Charles urged to clear up poisonous mess at ‘UK’s worst unlawful dump’

The land is partly owned by King Charles’ estate and the call comes as disgruntled homeowners living next to the dump say their house prices have halved

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People living next to a huge illegal dump on land partially owned by King Charles have called on the monarch to help clear the toxic mess.

The call comes as disgruntled homeowners living next to the ‘UK’s worst illegal dump’ at Bickershaw, Wigan, Manchester, say their house prices have halved.

The two-acre site holds over 25,000 tonnes of rubbish, including black bin bags full of household waste like nappies, as well as harmful chemicals and plastics.

Homeowners have told it is the ‘rotting sewage smell’ which has stunk out their homes for the past year, and the vermin, which often scuttle around the streets and nest in their houses and cars, which has caused the drop.

Last week, it emerged that a third of the site is on land owned by the Duchy of Lancaster, which is the King’s portfolio of land and buildings.

However, the Duchy of Lancaster is exempt from regulations and duties to clean the site on account of an ancient feudal legal framework dating back 750 years.

The Duchy insists that the responsibility of the alleged ‘£4.5 million clean-up’ lies with Wigan Council, but says they have contacted the council to ‘seek a resolution’ and are ‘committed’ to addressing the issue.

Nicha Rowson, 34, who lives 20 metres from the illegal tip, says it has devastated house prices in the area.

The beauty technician said, “I know mine has been impacted and others more dramatically.”

A number of residents have said their terraced house prices have halved in value. One – who did not want to be named – said their property had gone from being worth £170,000 to now just £88,000.

Nicha also called on King Charles to take action to help clean up the mess.

She said: “He needs to also take responsibility like all the other landowners to clean it up, regardless of how he got the land. It would make a world of a difference.”

Due to the smell, Nicha also says her two autistic sons, aged eight and ten, can’t spend time at home.

She added: “One of them has heightened smell and it makes him physically sick. It is torture being a mum and knowing your children don’t feel safe at home – I feel like a failure.

“He now mainly lives with his grandparents, but I still have to look after him, which puts extra stress on me.”

Another resident, Chloe Humphreys, 29, who lives just yards from the dump, says her life has become a ‘living hell’.

The nurse said: “We have multiple air fresheners in every room, but they do nothing, the horrid smell is always there.

“We are also scared of rats and maggots getting into the house, we hear and see them every night scuttling around.

“It has made life hell, and it isn’t fair.

“It is embarrassing having people around, when they walk through the door the terrible small just hits you.

“The most frustrating thing is knowing that is that if the council and the Environment Agency had taken action early, for instance, when we first complained in October, there wouldn’t be such a mess.”

Disgruntled locals say a procession of up to 30 lorries a day carrying trash to the site, which piled rubbish up to 20 metres high over several months, began in October 2024.

They have slammed the council and Environment Agency (EA) for their reluctance to intervene when they first complained, blaming them for the horrific mess they now face.

Wigan Council has taken action successfully applying for two closure orders in July 18 and October 17 2025, following a fire, which was declared as a major incident, that broke out at the dump last summer.

Though locals say it was too little too late, claiming the dump had already ‘reached its maximum capacity’ as early as February 2025.

The order means that currently the only people permitted onto the site are one of the landowners and representatives of organisations such as the Environment Agency.

Following the blaze, the Environment Agency (EA) opened “significant and complex criminal investigation” into the dump following the fire.

A spokesperson for the Environment Agency, said: “We are doing everything in our powers to manage the site in Bickershaw and identify the perpetrators, including by launching a major criminal investigation and interviewing individuals under caution.”

A Wigan Council spokesperson said: “Wigan Council fully understands the impact the illegal waste site at Bolton House Road has had, and continues to have, on local residents and on the bordering primary school.

“Wigan Council believes that those who have dumped the waste should be responsible for its clean up, and failing that the landowners.

“We continue to implore all landowners to take the necessary steps to fulfil their own obligations, and we call on the government to make funding available – via the Environment Agency or other department – to help remove the waste, as has been done for other sites.”