What is contaminated land? /
City of London's Contaminated Land Strategy /
How does the City of London manage contaminated
land? / Contaminated Land Searches /
Open and derelict land
Part II A of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and the
Contaminated Land (England) Regulations 2000 provide the
legislative framework for the management of contaminated land.
Under this framework, the City of London (as an enforcing
authority) has certain obligations. These are to:
- Inspect the City and identify any contaminated land;
- Establish responsibility for the remediation of contaminated
land;
- Ensure any necessary remediation takes place, either by
agreement or enforcement action;
- Determine liability for the cost of any remediation.
What is contaminated land?
Contaminated land in the UK has largely arisen as a result of
historic industrial activities and past waste disposal practices.
Unfortunately in the past, legal controls and standards within
industry were not as high as they are today. In a lot of cases this
has resulted in the ground being polluted by the wastes and
materials from the industrial activity.
Contaminated land is defined in the legislation as:
“any land which appears to the local authority in whose area it
is situated, to be in such a condition, by reasons of substances
in, on or under the land that:
- significant harm is being, or there is a significant
possibility of such harm being caused; or
- pollution of controlled waters is being or is likely to be
caused…”.
For a site to be 'contaminated', a significant pollutant
linkage must always exist. The three components listed below
must always be present to create a pollutant linkage:
- a source
- a pathway
- a receptor
If there is a break in this pollutant linkage (ie, there is a
source and a receptor, but no pathway) the site cannot be defined
as 'contaminated land'.
City of London’s Contaminated Land
Strategy
In order to fulfil the City of London’s obligations under the
legislation, the City of London published a Contaminated Land
Strategy in May 2001. This strategy was adopted by the City of
London in July 2001 and subsequently approved by the Environment
Agency in August 2001.
Download the Contaminated Land
Strategy (421kb)
Download the Contaminated Land Strategy - Review
2004 (28kb)
The main objectives of the Strategy were to:
- identify and record all sensitive receptors;
- identify and record sites that have the potential to be
contaminated;
- assess whether a pathway exists between the potential source
and receptor;
- if a potential pathway exists, carry out a further detailed
inspection of the site.
A desktop study showed that there have been various historical
small-scale commercial and industrial land uses in the City.
However, apart from a gasworks and the newspaper printers, there
has been no heavy industrialisation. Some of the other industries
to have operated in the City include warehousing, small
distilleries and brewers, small foundry works, glass works, goods
stores and railways stores. All these industries have now ceased
operating in the City, with the last industry group (the newspaper
printers) leaving in the late 1980s.
How does the City of London
manage contaminated land?
As well as developing and implementing the Contaminated Land
Strategy, the City of London continually manages contaminated (or
potentially contaminated) land through the planning and development
process. This applies when a site has a redevelopment proposal that
requires planning approval. If the City of London believes that a
site may be contaminated, then a condition can be placed on a
planning approval requiring a site investigation. Following the
site investigation, if the site is found to be contaminated, the
City of London can require the implementation of a satisfactory
remedial works to ensure that the site will be fit for it’s
intended use.
Contaminated Land
Searches
Search
for environmental information using our interactive map.
You can use this map to identify environmental information such
as open spaces, borehole locations and the historical land use of a
site within the City of London between the years 1875 and 1971.
The City of London offers advice on contaminated land
issues.
We also provide a comprehensive information search service on
properties, as part of the due diligence research required during
land acquisition negotiations. Usually referred to as a
"contaminated land search", there is a charge for this service. The
information includes:
- whether the site is likely to be classified as contaminated
land under Part IIA of the Environmental Protection Act 1990;
- records of any contamination issues associated with the
site;
- records of complaints or nuisance issues associated with the
site;
- records of enforcement action against the site;
- records of Part A or Part B Authorisations on / near the
site;
- records of past / closed landfills on / near the site;
- information about private water supplies;
- information on past land uses.
Two search services are available.
A standard search takes up to 10 working days to produce, and a
charge of £105 + Vat applies.
Where available, an expedited search guarantees an emailed
response within three working days, and a charge of £175 + VAT
applies.
If you would like a contaminated land search for a particular
property or for more information on this service, please contact
Edward Haythornthwaite by email.
Edward Haythornthwaite
Technical Officer
City of London
Department of Markets and Consumer Protection
P.O. Box 270
Guildhall
London EC2P 2EJ
Tel 020 7332 1593
Fax 020 7332 1316
Email
publicprotection@cityoflondon.gov.uk
Open and derelict land
Although rarities in City of London there are occasions when
small areas of land become problematic either due to them not being
under the control of a specific owner or as sites await
re-development. Businesses, residents and visitors to The City
should be able to benefit from clean, safe and unpolluted land,
free from rubbish, pests and graffiti.
If you have any concerns about land with these sorts of problems
in the City you can notify us by the following methods and we will
ensure the various Departments who may be able to help as well as
ourselves respond to the matters you bring to our attention.
Telephone 020 7332 3630
Fax 020 7332 1623
Email
publicprotection@cityoflondon.gov.uk
Out of hours 020 7606 3030