Land pollution

On 1 Apr 2000 new contaminated land legislation came into force in England. The new regime provides an improved system for the identification and remediation of contaminated land. It applies only to land causing unacceptable risks to human health or the wider environment, assessed in the context of the current use and circumstances of the land.

Many land contamination problems are dealt with through development and planning controls and it is expected that this will continue. The new legislation provides a means of requiring the remediation of land where this is not already taking place voluntarily.

The legislation is contained in Part IIA of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and the regime consists of the following documents: DETR Circular 02/2000; The Contaminated Land (England) Regulations 2000 (S.I.2000/227) and Section 57 of the Environment Act 1995.

For the first time, there is an explicit statutory definition of contaminated land, focusing on risks arising in the context of the current use and circumstances of land. It places specific duties on local authorities to inspect their areas to identify land falling within this definition and, where they do, to require its remediation in line with the "suitable for use" approach. The regime also provides detailed rules for assigning liabilities for contaminated land, based on the "polluter pays" principle.

Visit our Contaminated Land page to find out how land pollution effects Oxford and how we are tackling the issue.

Page last reviewed 14 Apr 2008