Responsibilities for land contamination
What you must do
Land development responsibilities
You could be required to clean up land contamination before you are allowed to carry out development. Your local council can impose planning conditions that require you to assess the risk of contamination and clean up the land, known as remediation, to make the site suitable for the proposed use.
Environmental damage responsibilities
You could be responsible for land contamination if it is classed as environmental damage and was caused on or after:
- 24 July 2009, in Northern Ireland
- 24 June 2009, in Scotland
See the page in this guideline on environmental damage caused by land contamination.
Complying with conditions of authorisations
You could also be responsible for land contamination if it is caused by you breaching conditions within your authorisations.
Local planning authorities' responsibilities
Local planning authorities have responsibilities in relation to land affected by contamination. See guidance for local planning authorities on how to deal with this:
GOV.UK: Land affected by contamination
Further information
- Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA): Contaminated land
- For Northern Ireland, England and Wales: Environment Agency's Land Contamination: Risk Management (LCRM). Identifying, making decisions on, and taking appropriate action to deal with land contamination
- Northern Ireland Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA): Development on Land Potentially Affected by Contamination
- Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA): Contaminated land
- Scottish Government: Contaminated land statutory guidance
- HMRC: Tax breaks for remediation of land contamination