Contaminated land

Introduction to contaminated land

Contaminated land regulations have been under development since the early 1990's. Following consultation on a 1993 White Paper entitled 'Paying for our Past', The Environment Act 1995 inserted a new section under (Part 11A) into the Environmental Protection Act 1990.Legislation, regulations and statutory guidance finally came into force in April 2000.

Under the new regulations, Local Authorities are required to inspect land within its boundaries for contamination. A strategy was required to be submitted to the Department of the Environment, Transport and Regions by July 2001, detailing how the authority will take a rational, ordered and efficient approach to the inspection. The final version of the Contaminated Land Strategy is now available in pdf format.

Download the Contaminated Land Strategy(pdf, 112KB)

Supplementary Planning Guidance on Redevelopment of Potentially Contaminated Sites

The Supplementary Planning Guidance on Redevelopment of Potentially Contaminated Sites is provided to outline the approach the Council expects developers to take into relation to contaminated land issues for ensuring compliance with legislation.

This document particularly specifies considerations the developer / environmental consultancy should take on ascertainment the site with regard to the soil or groundwater contamination. In the Appendix the desirable technical requirements are described for carrying out: Desk Study, Intrusive Site Investigation, Risk Assessment, Remediation Measures and Validation. In order to help developers in achieving the high standard of work being set a list of regulatory, legal and technical reference literature along with a list of useful web sites is given.

Download the Supplementary Planning Guidance on Redevelopment of Potentially Contaminated Sites(pdf, 69KB)