Contaminated Land Assessment
Required for applications which:
- Are on or adjacent to potentially contaminated land
- Involve the significant importation of soils and infill material onto the land
Does not apply to:
- householder developments,
- advertisements,
- listed building alterations / demolition,
- CLEUD / CLOPED notifications,
- TPOs,
- wind turbines less than 1ha,
- small offices and similar minor applications.
Guidance
Contaminated Land Assessments should consider risks to both human health and controlled waters.
"Potentially contaminated land" is land which may contain substances that are either potentially hazardous or actually hazardous to the environment and/or to health. The primary causes of contaminated land in the UK come from the land being used as
- a mining site,
- industrial use, or
- waste disposal, or
- which has been subjected to chemical or oil spills.
However, contamination can also occur naturally, as a consequence of agricultural use or because of the geology of the area.
A Phase 1 desktop assessment will be the minimum requirement at validation for sites which are adjacent to potentially contaminated land. An Environmental Search / Homebuyers Check is not sufficient.
A Full Phase 2 intrusive assessment will be required on sites which are designated brownfield sites. This will also be required for land known or suspected to be contaminated as a consequence of former industrial or commercial uses.
The assessments shall include a preliminary conceptual site model (showing all potential pathways between contaminants and receptors - known as pollutant linkages). It will also include a preliminary risk assessment of these pollutant linkages. The report should meet the requirements of BS:10175 2011 and shall be undertaken by a competent person.
The initial assessment should clearly demonstrate that the risk from contamination can be satisfactorily reduced to an acceptable level. If this is not the case, further site investigations and risk assessment may be needed before the application can be determined.
Pre-application advice should be sought from the Council's Environmental Health Officers - the email address is below.
If the proposal is likely to pose a risk to controlled waters, pre-application advice can be obtained from the Environment Agency via their cost-recovered planning advice service: Email SDPC