Contaminated land is where substances could cause:

  • Significant harm to people or protected species.
  • Significant pollution of surface waters or ground waters.

Gov UK Opens in a new window provides information on who is responsible for deciding whether land is contaminated, who has to clean up the land, guidance on developing land and buying contaminated land.

What we do

We are responsible for enforcing Contaminated Land legislation. We:

  • 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.