Contaminated land strategy

11.1 Contaminated Land Registers

Part 2A requires the Council to keep a public register. The public register is intended to act as a full and permanent record, open for public inspection, of all regulatory action taken by the enforcing authority in respect of the remediation of contaminated land. Schedule 3 of the Contaminated Land (England) Regulations 2006 provides details of the information required to be entered on the register. The Council’s contaminated land register will be maintained by the Environmental Health Team. Members of the public will be able to view the register free of charge during normal office hours. Written, telephone and electronic requests for copies of documents should be made to the Council’s Environmental Health Team. An administration charge will be levied.

11.2 The Environmental Information Regulations 2004

Implementation of the strategy will also result in significant volumes of data that will be held on computer databases and geographical information systems, as well as in paper form. There is no statutory obligation to disclose this information therefore the Council must comply with the requirements of the Environmental Information Regulations when dealing with requests for disclosure.

These Regulations require local authorities to make any environmental information they hold available upon request, subject to certain exemptions. These are complex but it would be likely that the Council will have to respond to requests for information on land it has identified as part of, for example, the inspection of the Borough, as outlined in Part 2 of this strategy.

It should be noted that the Council’s prioritisation list for further investigation is being classified as “a record which is in the course of completion”. This is because it is always liable to update and as such this will not be disclosed under the Regulations. It should, however, be understood that information held about specific sites within the prioritisation list will be made available via an Environmental Information Regulation request. A charge will usually be made for the supply of information in accordance with the Regulations.

Where the Council must refuse a request for any of the reasons stated in the Regulations, it will provide details of the reasons in writing at no cost to the applicant.

It should also be noted that the Council will always act in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018.