In order to minimise development pressures on greenfield sites, the preference nowadays is to build on land that has been used before. For the protection of future users, we need to know if that land may be contaminated and, if so, to clean it up. This is where environmental health practitioners come in.
EHPs are trained in the highly technical processes of the detection and assessment of contamination. Following detailed examination including analysis of representative soil samples, if they believe the land is contaminated to an extent that there may be an unacceptable risk to health they will work with owners, developers, architects and engineers to find ways of remediating and reclaiming it so that it can be safely used again.
Most contaminated sites come to EHPs’ attention by way of the planning process whereby ‘clean-up’ conditions can be applied to development consents. If necessary though, EHPs can use enforcement powers to ensure that land is returned to a state fit for use.
Further information
The CIEH runs the Standing Conference on Land Contamination and maintains a Guide to Part 2A of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 for local authorities.
In May 2006 the Chartered Institute published a Professional Practice Note for local authority contaminated land officers giving interim guidance on the determination of land under Part 2A of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 as “contaminated land” due to unacceptable risks to human health. Some other related materials from the CIEH are listed under Publications.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Environment Agency have published a number of procedural and technical guidance notes, both on the assessment of contaminated land and on ways of cleaning it up and restoring it. The Health Protection Agency too provides a limited range of relevant materials.