Contaminated land - information for developers
Legislation
Part 2A of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (amended by
section 57 of the Environment Act 1995) came into force in April
2000. Commonly referred to as the Contaminated Land Regulations,
this legislation provides a legal definition of contaminated
land. It introduced a new legal framework for the
identification and remediation of contaminated land.
The Regulations place a duty on Local Authorities to inspect
their area to identify contaminated land and ensure the person or
organisation responsible for the contamination cleans it up.
DEFRA Guidance to Local Authorities
Defining contaminated land
Part 2A provides a statutory definition of contaminated land
(the DEFRA link contains this) although it should be noted that a
site, which is considered to be contaminated land, would be subject
to a robust scientific assessment prior to determination as
contaminated land. The statutory definition will not extend
to all land where contamination is found to be present but the
degree of possible harm the contamination may cause on a site will
be the determining factor on whether a site will be determined as
statutory contaminated land.