Contaminated Land Team

The Contaminated Land Team provides technical advice regarding Part IIa (Environmental Protection Act 1995) matters and National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) relevant to land contamination issues, and in soil management related to remediation of contaminated sites.

Contamination, in most cases, is likely to arise from a previous use of the site, or an adjacent site, that had an industrial activity on it. The requirements for remediating land under the planning process are not the same as remediating land under Part IIA of the Environment Protection Act 1995  

For details on Part IIA please see Contaminated Land Statutory Guidance

How do you determine whether land could be contaminated?

Only a specific investigation can establish whether contamination is present, but there are various sources of information that can be used to help establish its likelihood, including:

  • Local authorities’ own survey information; including information held and collected in connection with Part 2A of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (this could include information about sites that have been inspected and not determined to be ‘contaminated land’ within the terms of the Act but where new development could change the level of risk).
  • River Basin Management Plans published by the Environment Agency, including ‘protected areas’, which are shown in Annex D of each plan to help understand environmental sensitivity.
  • Information about previous land uses contained in the National Land Use Database, including commercial databases, land condition records or in records held by the Environment Agency or the British Geological Survey (e.g. the location of ‘made ground’, the results of broad scale geochemical surveys or radon potential maps).
  • Historical ordnance survey maps; data readily available on data.gov.uk relating to historical landfills and other contaminative uses.
  • Local planning authority records, including historic environment and relevant Environmental Statements that may include updated baseline assessments.
  • Natural England’s MAGIC site which sets out information about the environmental setting and sensitivity of the development site.

For more information check out the government guidelines for land affected by contamination.