Thursday 23 May 2013

Pollution

Contaminated land

Contaminated land is land that contains substances either on the surface or below ground that present a risk of significant harm to human health or to our wider environment, including water resources, the local ecosystem and structures.

What we do about contaminated land

We are responsible for enforcing the 'contaminated land' legislation. We:

publish a Contaminated Land Strategy, which says how we will deal with contaminated sites in the area
assist in finding out who is responsible for putting right the contamination and discuss the problem with them
formally declare land contaminated
agree the necessary action before works are carried out
keep a Public Register of contaminated land sites.

Who is responsible for cleaning up the pollution?

If you own or occupy contaminated land now, or you did in the past, you may be responsible for cleaning up the pollution. You may still be responsible for cleaning up the pollution after you have sold the land.

Who pays to clean up pollution?

The law follows the 'polluter pays' principle - the person or organisation that caused or permitted the contamination must pay to have it put right. If that person or organisation is not known, then the current owner of the land may become responsible.

Development on contaminated land

The national objectives are contained in Government advice to all local authorities.

The priority objectives are seen as the prevention of new contamination via the pollution control regimes and a 'suitable for use' approach so as to bring existing sites which may be contaminated back into use (land reclamation).

We will ensure that any development on land that has been subject to contaminating use is only undertaken after a thorough investigation of the nature and degree of contamination.

No development will be permitted until the site has been decontaminated to the highest standard, appropriate to its proposed end use.