ARCHIVE: Contaminated land: Legislation

Contaminated land legislation (Part 2A of the Environmental Protection Act 1990) was introduced in 1995.  It came into force in 2000 following the publication of accompanying “statutory guidance”. 

The main aim of the “Part 2A” regime is to provide a means of finding and dealing with England’s substantial legacy of land contamination, and the risks it can pose to people’s health and the environment.  It requires that local authorities identify contaminated land and ensure that significant risks are dealt with.  It also establishes rules for who should pay for remediation.

The Government sees a central purpose of the regime as being to encourage voluntary remediation of land affected by contamination (without Part 2A actually being used to require it).  Normally, Part 2A would only be used to require remediation if no better solution were available.

The main elements of contaminated land legislation are:

  • Part 2A of the Environmental Protection Act
  • Statutory Guidance (PDF 530 KB). The statutory guidance can be found at Annex 3 of Defra Circular 01/2006.  It forms part of the Part 2A legal regime.  It elaborates on various aspects of the Act, including the definition of “contaminated land”; identification and remediation; and liability for who pays for remediation. 
  • Contaminated Land (England) Regulations 2006. The Regulations elaborate on various details of the Part 2A regime – e.g. dealing with issues such as what qualifies as a “special site”; public registers; remediation notices; and setting the rules for how appeals can be made against decisions taken under the Part 2A regime.

Defra has also published non-statutory guidance on applying the legal definition of contaminated land (PDF 120 KB).  In particular, it looks at how local authorities should apply the Part 2A test of there being a “significant possibility of significant harm”.

 

Page last modified: 8 August 2008