Contaminated land strategy

Aims and objectives of the strategy

3.1 Aims The overarching aim of this Strategy is to meet the Council’s statutory obligation to produce a formal strategy pursuant to Part 2A of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 in accordance with statutory guidance issued in April 2012.

The Strategy prioritises sites where there is a theoretical risk of land contamination and one or more vulnerable receptors at risk of harm or pollution. The Strategy should also appropriately consider the planning history of such sites.

The legislation and accompanying guidance for the risk-based approach to dealing with contaminated land requires a rational, ordered and efficient approach. Specifically, the Council aims to ensure:

  • A risk-based approach, that is both systematic and objective to prioritise those areas which need further investigation and possible remedial action.
  • Where possible, un-necessary burdens on the taxpayer, businesses and individuals are minimised e.g. encouraging site owners to voluntarily investigate and remediate sites.
  • Where voluntary remediation is not forthcoming, determination of the most appropriate action to ensure compliance with, and enforcement, of the appropriate legislation.
  • Procedures are in place to produce and publish a Public Register of the enforcement history of land statutorily designated as “contaminated land”.

3.2 Objectives

  • To provide an efficient mechanism by which information derived from existing records, members of the public, industry, etc. can be collected, collated, assessed and updated to inform a prioritisation list of potentially contaminated land.
  • To review previous action taken to deal with contaminated land to ensure that the previous action was stringent enough to deal with the contamination to meet with current guidelines. 
  • To ensure that sites identified as “contaminated land” are effectively dealt with through consultation and monitoring.
  • To enable the dissemination of information related to land contamination, when requested, which is not in contravention of relevant legislation.