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Contaminated Land : Legislative Background &
Principles
A duty on Local Authorities to operate a new contaminated land
regime was introduced by Section 57 of the Environment Act 1995,
enacted to operate under Part IIA of the Environmental Protection
Act 1990 (the 1990 Act).
The objective of this regime is
to control threats to health and to the environment associated with
contaminating chemicals & substances either on, within, or
under the ground. To achieve this, Local Authorities are required
to take a strategic approach to the inspection of land within their
Area for potential sources of land contamination, and make
assessments of likely risk to current site users.
Local Authority Part IIA powers to require the remediation
& clean up of contaminated land (see below) are under-pinned by
a risk-based, "suitable for use" approach. The principles of risk
assessment in terms of Part IIA of the 1990 Act ensure that a
priority is given to cases posing the greatest risk to health, the
environment or to property; and that the current or intended
landuse is taken into consideration.