Contaminated Land
Contaminated Land, under the legal definition in Part IIA
of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, is
"Any land which appears to the Local Authority in whose area
it is situated to be in such a condition, by reason of substances
in, on, or under the land, that
(a)Significant harm is being caused or there is a
significant possibility of such harm being caused; or
(b)Pollution of controlled waters is being, or is likely to
be, caused"
To constitute significant harm (or the significant
possibility of such harm), there must exist a pollutant linkage.
The pollutant linkage consists of three strands -
- A source
- A pathway
- A receptor
The source is the land itself, which will have an unacceptable
concentration of an undesirable chemical. Such chemicals could be
metallic (for instance, lead); inorganic (arsenic or cyanide);
organic (dioxins or polyaromatic hydrocarbons) or any other
compound that could give rise to harm.
Such chemicals could arise due to natural phenomenon (some soils
have naturally high levels of arsenic) or from historic, industrial
activities. Certain historic activities leave a legacy of
contamination, as the use and disposal of chemicals was often not
of concern. Such chemicals can persist, and thus still remain as a
source today.
A pathway is a way for the source to harm the receptor. For
instance, if soil in a garden were contaminated, it could affect
those residents living there by the ingestion of any home grown
vegetables, through soil/skin contact during gardening, through
inhalation of dust etc.
A receptor is something that must be affected by the
contamination. This could be a human, an ecological habitat or, in
the case of Bromsgrove, the Sherwood Sandstone aquifer which runs
under much of the District.
It should be noted here that all three of the above must be
present to constitute contaminated land.
What are the Councils Responsibilities?
Bromsgrove District Council has a statutory duty to investigate
its area for potentially contaminated land. The Council must take a
strategic approach, which must be:
- Rational, ordered and efficient
- Proportionate to the seriousness of any risk
- Ensure that the most pressing problems are located first
- Ensure that resources are targeted where contaminated land is
most likely to exist
- Ensure that the Council identifies requirements for the
detailed inspection of land
In order to rationalise how the Council will deal with
contaminated land, a
Contaminated Land Strategy (4.21 MB) has been
developed. The Contaminated Land Strategy details the procedures
that the Council will follow when investigating potentially
contaminated sites.
-Developing
on Contaminated Land 
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