Planning Practice Note:
Contaminated Land
INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this practice note is to inform applicants and prospective applicants for planning permission of the contaminated land regime. This regime was introduced in April 2000 by section 57 of the Environment Act 1995 which inserted a new Part IIA into the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
Under this regime, the Local Authority has a duty to:
- inspect its area to identify any contaminated land;
- determine whether any particular site is contaminated land;
- to act as the enforcing authority for all contaminated land which is not designated as a 'special site' (for which the Environment Agency is the enforcing authority);
- to establish who should bear the responsibility for the remediation of any contaminated land;
- to decide, after consultation, what remediation is required in any case and to ensure such remediation takes place;
- where a remediation notice is served, or where the Authority itself carries out the work, to determine who should bear the costs;
to record certain prescribed information about its regulatory actions on a public register.
DEFINITIONS
Contaminated land
Contaminated land is defined in the Act as 'any land which appears to the Local Authority, in whose area it is situated, to be in such a condition, by reason of substances in, on or under the land that:
- significant harm is being caused or that there is a significant possibility of such harm being caused; or
- pollution of controlled waters is being, or is likely to be, caused.'
Significant harm
Significant harm is defined as:
- in humans, death, serious injury, cancer or other disease, genetic mutation and birth defects;
- irreversible or other substantial adverse change in a protected habitat;
- structural failure or substanial damage to buildings;
- death, disease or other physical damage to livestock or crops which cause substantial loss.
Pollutant linkage
A pollutant linkage is a pathway between a contaminant and a receptor
Controlled waters
Controlled waters are defined as territorial, coastal, inland fresh-waters and groundwaters.
THE OBJECTIVES OF THE REGIME
The objectives of the regime is:
- to identify and remove unacceptable risks to human health and the environment;
- to seek to bring damaged land back into beneficial use;
- to seek to ensure that the cost burdens faced by individuals, companies and
- society as a whole are proportionate, manageable and economically sustainable.
Rationale
The rationale behind these objectives is that contaminated land is a threat to sustainable development because:
- it impedes social progress, depriving local people of a clean and healthy environment;
- it threatens wider damage to the environment and to wildlife;
- it inhibits the prudent use of our land a soil resources, particularly by obstructing the recycling of previously developed land;
- the cost of remediation represents a high burden on companies and individual property owners and the economy as a whole.
THE SUITABLE FOR USE APPROACH
The Government considers that the most appropriate approach for achieving sustainable development in this field is to adopt the 'suitable for use' approach. This has 3 elements:
- ensuring that land is suitable for its current use;
- ensuring that land is made suitable for any new use as planning permission is implemented;
- limiting requirements for remediation to the work necessary to prevent unacceptable risks to human health or the environment in relation to the current use or the use for which planning permission has been granted.
THE COUNCIL'S POLICY
It is the Council's policy to require developers of land to remedy any contamination consistent with the 'suitable for use approach' before the development is started.
PLANNING APPLICATION PROCEDURE
This section explains the procedure which will be adopted when applications for planning permission are made for land which is contaminated or has previously had a potentially contaminative use (e.g. gasworks, railway sidings).
If planning permission is granted for development of land which subsequently turns out to be contaminated, remedial action may still be required under the Environmental Protection Act 1990. This could have serious implications for the value of the new development.
It is therefore important that applicants and their agents disclose as much information as they can about contamination (and potentially contaminative previous uses) of their land at the time they make their planning application.
Pre-application discussions
The Council welcomes pre-application discussions for all developments. Where contaminated land is concerned, pre-application discussions will enable early information exchange and give an opportunity for the correct procedures to be used from the outset.
Applications
Applications for planning permission involving contaminated land (or land suspected of being contaminated) will not normally be considered unless the appropriate site investigation has been carried out and a satisfactory remedial strategy has been formulated.
Reports
The type of report for determining whether a site is contaminated land will be site specific and may include , as appropriate to the case:
- a preliminary desk-top study (phase 1);
- risk assessment (phase 2);
- exploratory investigation (phase 3).
The report must prove that all pollutant linkages will be broken. Advice on investigations can be found in British Standard BS10175:2001.
Appointment of consultants
Reports required in this process can be extremely specialist in nature and must be carried out by a 'suitable person'. The Council's Environment and Community Services Division will be pleased to advise on the appointment of consultants. A list of firms is available on request but this is not exclusive nor does the Council endorse the work of any of them.
Consultations
In assessing the risk assessment document, the Council will consult:
- its own Environment and Community Services Division;
- the Environment Agency;
- the Health and Safety Executive;
- other relevant agencies.
Conditional planning permission
When planning permission is granted for development involving contaminated land, the permission will normally be subject to a condition requiring that:
- a site investigation be submitted (if this has not already been done)
- that the remedial strategy, or any remedial works identified as being necessary, will be carried out before the development is started.
CONTACT NUMBERS
For technical enquiries about:
- the contaminated land regime;
- the scope and content of contaminated land reports;
- the appointment of consultants;
telephone Environmental Health on 01584 813386
For enquiries about:
- the planning process;
- specific applicatons;
Telephone Planning Support (01584) 813000
Page Subscriptions:
Subscription allows you to track page changes without having to re-visit the page on too frequent a basis. The system will send you an email when a page to which you have subscribed is changed.
Subscribe to changes to this page here.Author: Planning and Building Control. Last Updated: 6/11/2007.
