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.

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

Rogers Review

Stratford-on-Avon District Council took the decision to downgrade its approach to contaminated land in light of both the 2007 Rogers Review and the subsequent Audit Commission decision to remove the requirement for investigation of potentially contaminated land from the Government's national indicator system.

The Rogers Review was carried out in 2007 to set the national enforcement priorities for local authorities; among its many recommendations was that investigating potentially contaminated land was not a national consideration.

The council continues to:

• recommend full site investigation as appropriate at planning application stage for new development
• provide advice on request
• respond to specific enquiries about sites

However, the council will not, in the foreseeable future, carry out any proactive site investigations.

Further information

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

• View our Contaminated Land Register
• View our Contaminated Land Inspection Strategy

There is no charge for providing any information we hold on specific sites.

Contaminated land reports are available. If you require a report please request it via email using the details below. There is no charge for this service.

• Email: envhealth@stratford-dc.gov.uk
• Telephone: 01789 260835
• Report it Online