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Land Contamination Assessment

Published: 2020-01-27 Updated: 2020-10-26 Subject: Planning, Planning checklist

Planning application - local requirement

When the requirement applies

This assessment is necessary for applications where there are known or suspected contamination issues with land involved in a development, including  previous potentially contaminative uses. Typical examples include the following situations:

  • Developments on sites with a known potentially contaminative historical land use
  • Conversion or redevelopment of petrol filling stations
  • Redevelopment of industrial and manufacturing sites
  • Mineral and waste applications
  • Applications for sites where alteration to the topography of the land or surrounding area may result in land contamination (for instance, through infilling of the land)
  • Rural building conversions to other uses

What the assessment should include

This assessment should be undertaken to identify the nature and extent of contamination, the risks it may pose to the proposed development and what remedial measures are feasible to satisfactorily reduce the contamination to an acceptable level.

Surveys will need to be made to determine whether there are any issues arising from contamination or ground gas. Where contamination is identified, the proposed measures for remediation will need to be identified. Investigations may include the following:

  • Desktop Study and Walkover Survey
  • Detailed Intrusive Site Investigation and Risk Assessment
  • A Remediation Strategy and Validation Report

Please contact our Development Management or Environmental Health teams if you need further guidance.

If your development involves complexities such as contaminated land, we recommend you use our pre-application guidance. At the pre-application stage, we can offer advice about the level of information we need in support of an application, and indicate what information the Contaminated Land Officer may hold in relation to a given site.

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