BGS & Mining Remediation Authority — area-level, Great Britain

Subsidence risk by area

Subsidence is one of the ground risks that can affect a home's value, insurability and structure. These pages screen three area-level drivers — BGS clay shrink-swell, coalfield status and recorded landslides — for high-interest outcodes across Great Britain, so you can understand the neighbourhood before you look at a specific property.

50 areas with a genuine ground signal · area-level BGS screening on ~50 m to hex-scale grids, never a single-property rating.

These bands describe the ground around an area on BGS national-overview grids — they are never a property-specific rating and carry no distance-to-mine-shaft claim. Whether a specific home is at risk depends on its plot, foundations, nearby trees and drainage, which only a survey can assess.

Areas with a subsidence ground signal

BL1Coal High Risk Area

Bolton

KT2Clay Probable

Kingston & Coombe

BS8On the coalfield

Clifton, Bristol

NW6Clay Probable

Kilburn & West Hampstead, London

SE8Clay Probable

Greenwich

HD1Coal High Risk Area

Huddersfield

NE2Coal High Risk Area

Jesmond, Newcastle

NW1Clay Probable

Camden, London

RG1Clay Possible

Reading

RM1Clay Probable

Romford

SE15Clay Probable

Peckham, London

SE23Clay Probable

Forest Hill, London

N22Clay Probable

Enfield

SE5Clay Probable

Lambeth

SE26Clay Probable

Bromley

BA19 landslides nearby

Bath

BA211 landslides nearby

Bath (south & west)

BH110 landslides nearby

Bournemouth

CB1Clay Probable

Cambridge

CB7Clay Probable

Ely

CM1Clay Probable

Chelmsford

CO1Clay Probable

Colchester

CR0Clay Probable

Croydon

DH1On the coalfield

Durham

E1Clay Probable

Whitechapel & Shoreditch, London

E14Clay Probable

Canary Wharf, London

E16Clay Probable

Royal Docks, London

E17Clay Probable

Walthamstow, London

HA1Clay Probable

Harrow

IG1Clay Probable

Ilford

KT1Clay Probable

Kingston upon Thames

KT8Clay Probable

East Molesey & Hampton Court

LS10Coal High Risk Area

Hunslet, Leeds

N4Clay Probable

Finsbury Park, London

NE1Coal High Risk Area

Newcastle upon Tyne

OX4Clay Probable

Oxford

SE1Clay Probable

Southwark, London

SL4Clay Probable

Windsor

SS0Clay Probable

Westcliff & Southend

ST1Coal High Risk Area

Stoke-on-Trent

SW11Clay Probable

Battersea, London

SW18Clay Probable

Wandsworth, London

SW1AClay Probable

Westminster, London

SW3Clay Probable

Chelsea, London

TQ129 landslides nearby

Torquay

TW1Clay Probable

Twickenham

UB1Clay Probable

Southall

W11Clay Probable

Notting Hill, London

W2Clay Probable

Paddington & Bayswater, London

W4Clay Probable

Chiswick, London

Check a specific address

Ground stability is assessed at the property, not the outcode. The £24.99 Complete report runs the clay, coal and landslide screen against one exact address and pairs it with the flood, radon and other checks — the full ground-and-risk picture before you offer.

Frequently asked questions

What causes subsidence?

The three area-level drivers screened here are clay shrink-swell (clay soils shrinking in dry summers and swelling when wet — the commonest UK cause, worsening with climate change), past coal or other mining (ground disturbance from historic workings), and recorded landslides (slope instability). Trees, leaking drains and made ground are property-level factors only a survey assesses.

Is this a property-specific subsidence check?

No. These are AREA-LEVEL indicators from the British Geological Survey and Mining Remediation Authority, generalised for national overview on roughly 50-metre to hex-scale grids. They describe the ground around an outcode, never a single home, and carry no distance-to-mine-shaft claim. Whether a specific property is affected depends on its plot, foundations, trees and drainage.

Does a subsidence flag stop me getting a mortgage or insurance?

Not automatically. Area-level ground risk can raise buildings-insurance premiums or prompt a lender to ask for a survey, especially where a property has a movement history. A survey-confirmed subsidence claim is far more material than an area screening. Always get a buildings-insurance quote on the specific address before you commit.

Which areas are covered?

Great Britain — England, Wales and Scotland — using BGS and Mining Remediation Authority data. Northern Ireland is served by the Geological Survey of Northern Ireland. The areas below are outcodes with a genuine, differentiated ground signal; any GB outcode can be checked, but only those with a real signal are listed and indexed.

Sources