Land can be legally identified as “Contaminated Land” by Torbay Council. This may happen where the land could cause:
- Significant harm to people or protected species.
- Significant pollution of surface waters or ground waters.
There is more information here on who is responsible for deciding:
- whether land is contaminated
- who has to clean up the land
- developing land that may be contaminated
- buying land that may be contaminated
What we do
We are responsible for enforcing Contaminated Land legislation. We:
- Respond to enquiries from the public about land contamination.
- Publish a Contaminated Land Strategy which says how we will identify contaminated sites in our area.
- Carry out reviews of land that may be contaminated.
- Find out who is responsible for putting right the contamination and discuss the problem with them.
- Formally declare land as contaminated.
- Agree what action is necessary to put the site right and make sure it is done.
- Keep a Public Register of contaminated land sites which includes any legal action that has been taken in relation to a site.
- Review planning applications to find out if there are any issues that need to be considered regarding contamination.
- In some cases the Environment Agency may take over regulation of a site from us once it has been declared as Contaminated Land.
Contaminated Land Public Register
This register is intended to act as a full and permanent record of all the regulatory action taken by the enforcing authority in relation to the remediation of the land.
This register is intended to act as a full and permanent record of all the regulatory action taken by the enforcing authority in relation to the remediation of the land.
If you need more information about a particular piece of land and possible contamination, please use this form: