Contaminated land
The Contaminated Land regime, introduced by Part IIA of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 in July 2000, created a framework for the identification and remediation of land where historical contamination is causing unacceptable risks to human health or the wider environment, based on a “suitable for use” approach.
As primary regulator under Part IIA, local authorities have duties including:
the requirement to inspect their area to identify contaminated land;
to determine whether particular sites meet the statutory definition of contaminated land;
to act as enforcing authority for all contaminated land sites within their area, (unless the site meets the definition of a ‘special site’, where SEPA would act as the enforcing authority) and;
to maintain a public register of contaminated land within their area.
Additionally, the statutory guidance issued under Part IIA required local authorities to prepare and publish a written strategy detailing their proposed approach to the inspection of their area.
Following identification of an area of contaminated land, the Council must:
establish who is the “responsible person” for bearing responsibility for the remediation of the land;
decide what remediation is required and ensure this occurs, through: voluntary agreement; serving of a remediation notice where agreement cannot otherwise be reached or; by undertaking the work themselves in certain circumstances;
determine who should bear what proportion of the liability for meeting the costs of the work and;
record certain prescribed information about their regulatory actions on a public register.
We are currently in the process of prioritising all potentially contaminated site for action. To date, no sites within East Renfrewshire have been formally designated as contaminated land. For further information, please telephone 0141 577 3782.