Contaminated Land

For a number of years, Governments have proposed a regulatory regime to deal with the legacy of contaminated land throughout the country. Previous attempts to require local authorities to draw up a register of contaminative uses of land were dropped and a new regime has now been developed. 

The Environment Act 1995 introduced Part IIA to the Environmental Protection Act 1990 dealing with contaminated land. The main purpose is to provide an improved system for the identification and remediation of contaminated land where it is causing unacceptable risks to human health or to the wider environment. Government guidance   (external link) reinforces the principle that a site should be assessed on the "contaminant, pathway, receptor" concept for assessing the risk from contamination. If risk is established the remediation adopted is based on the "suitable for use" approach with regard to the current and likely future use of the site. 

The primary regulatory role under Part IIA lies with local authorities. This reflects their existing functions under the statutory nuisance regime and will also complement their role as planning authorities. Local authorities will be required to inspect their districts to identify contaminated land and to act as the enforcing authority for land which is not designated as a special site. Special sites concern certain types of contamination and are the enforcement responsibility of the Environment Agency  (external link). 

Enforcing authorities have four main tasks. The first is to establish who should bear responsibility for the remediation of the land. Secondly, to decide, after consultation with the appropriate person (who may or may not be the landowner) and the Environment Agency, what remediation is required and to ensure that it takes place either through agreement or by serving a remediation notice. When a remediation notice is served the authority has to identify who should bear degrees of liability for meeting the costs of the works. Finally, certain information must be recorded in a public register.

Radon

Radon affected areas have been identified by the Health Protection Agency. These are areas within the UK where 1% or more of the homes exceed the action level of 200 becquerels per cubic metre of air. In these areas, a geological assessment should be undertaken for new development and consideration should be given to installing basic radiation protection if the assessment shows that they are necessary.
 
Theses are the areas affected by Radon within the Chester district.

Downloads

The council has produced a Contaminated Land Strategy  (780kb)  to explain how we intend to meet the Part IIA requirements. 

Guidance for Developers Land Affected by Contamination (122kb)

Environment Agency Guidance on Requirements for Land Contamination Reports (393kb)