Contaminated Land

The Environmental Protection Act, 1990, Part 11A, requires that all local authorities inspect their areas for the purpose of identifying contaminated land. Stratford-on-Avon District Council adopted a strategy in 2001 setting out how it would undertake this task and in what timescale.

There are four possible grounds that determine if land is contaminated:

1. Significant harm is being caused;
2. there is significant possibility of significant harm being caused;
3. pollution of controlled waters is being caused;
4. pollution of controlled waters is likely to be caused.

Land may only be determined as 'contaminated' if:

• it contains a source of contamination - the source; and
• someone (or something) could be affected by the contamination - the receptor; and
• the contamination can get to the receptor - the pathway.

These three elements together are known as the pollutant linkage. Some typical uses of land in our area with potential for causing contamination are:

Landfills
Gasworks
Filling Stations
Scrap yards
Agriculture - storage and use of chemicals
Industry

Certain information relating to regulatory action and remediation, if any, must be kept on a public register.

Please click on the link on the right to view our Contaminated Land Inspection Strategy.

Contaminated Land Reports are available to purchase for a fee of £60.00, inclusive of VAT.

For further information on these controls or to purchase a report please contact the Environmental Health Team on 01789 260820, or by email at envhealth@stratford-dc.gov.uk