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Contaminated land

An overview

In January 1990 the House of Commons Environment Committee expressed concern that the Government was not doing enough for the environment, it was underestimating the environmental problem and misdirecting resources. One major concern was the historical legacy of contamination that remained throughout the country.

Many years of debate and consultation resulted in the introduction of the revised legislation in April 2000. The effect of this was to place a duty on local authorities to develop and implement a strategy to investigate the extent of contamination within their areas and enforce land remediation or clean up.

After formal consultation, the Council's Contaminated Land Strategy was adopted in June 2001 to examine the extent of contamination throughout the District of West Oxfordshire and to prioritise areas by a method of risk rating for land remediation.  The aim of the strategy was to set out how land would be initially identified, inspected and in what timescale.

The Local Authority is the primary Regulator of the Contaminated Land Regulations, and is required to:

• carry out inspections of sites;
• determine the extent of contamination;
• designate whether the site is deemed a 'special site' (responsibility of enforcement falls to the Environment Agency); and
• act as enforcing Authority for contaminated land not designated as a special site.

When contaminated land has been confirmed as contaminated the enforcing authority must:

• Establish who should bare the responsibility for remediation;
• Decide after consultation what should be done in the form of remediation and ensure that this is carried out;
• Determine liability for the cost of remedial work; and
• Maintain a public register of all regulatory action in relation to contaminated land.

Land is only considered contaminated if it affects:

• Human Beings
• Ecosystems
• Property,  or 
• Water

A more detailed overview is provided by leaflet on contaminated land  which can be downloaded or ordered from the Publications section.

For further information telephone 01993 861060 or use the online service on the right of this page.

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