ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND Statutory framework April 2000 saw the introduction of new contaminated land provisions, contained in Part IIA of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. A primary objective of the legislation is to identify and remediate contaminated land. Under the Act action to remediate land is required only where there are unacceptable actual or potential risks to health or the environment. Sites that have been polluted from previous land use may not need remediating until the land use is changed to a more sensitive end-use. In addition, it may be necessary to take action only where there are appropriate, cost-effective remediation processes that take the use of the site into account. The Environmental Act 1995 amended the Environment Protection Act 1990 by introducing a new regime for dealing with ‘contaminated land’ as defined. The regime became operational on 1 April 2000. Local authorities are the main regulators of the new regime although the Environment Agency regulates seriously contaminated sites which are known as “special sites”. The contaminated land regime incorporates statutory guidance on the inspection, definition, remediation, apportionment of liabilities and recovery of costs of remediation. The measures are to be applied in accordance with the following criteria: … the planning system
… the standard of remediation should relate to the present use
… the costs of remediation should be reasonable in relation to the seriousness of the potential harm
… the proposals should be practical in relation to the availability of remediation technology, impact of site
constraints and the effectiveness of the proposed clean-up method. The contaminated land provisions of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 are only one element of a series of statutory measures dealing with pollution and land remediation that have been introduced. Others include: … groundwater regulations, including pollution prevention measures
… an integrated prevention and control regime for pollution
… sections of the Water Resources Act 1991, which deals with works notices for site controls, restoration
and clean up. The risks involved in the purchase of potentially contaminated sites are high, particularly considering that a transaction can result in the transfer of liability for historic contamination from the vendor to the purchaser. The ability to forecast the extent and cost of remedial measures is essential for both parties, so that they can be accurately reflected in the price of the land.
