The city council ensures that contaminated land is identified, investigated and remedied.
Part IIA of the Environment Act 1995 came into force on the 1st April 2000 and introduces a new regulatory role for local authorities, aimed at controlling threats to health and to the environment from land contamination. This requires every local authority to inspect land in its area for contamination. The main local authority responsibilities under the Act are as follows:
- To cause their areas to be inspected in order to identify contaminated land.
- To establish who may be the appropriate person or persons to bear responsibility for remediation of the land.
- To decide, after consultation, what remediation might be required in any individual case and ensure that such remediation takes place, by serving a remediation notice where necessary, with powers to act in default.
- To record information on a public register about their regulatory actions.
The City Council has produced a Contaminated Land Strategy detailing how the Authority will carry out this inspection duty. The strategy can be viewed via the link below. It is also available to view in the Customer Service Centre at New Walk Centre.
Planning and Building Control
A Developers Guide, giving advice to property owners, developers, architects and surveyors when applying to develop, or significantly change the use of a piece of land, which may be contaminated has been developed by the Leicestershire Pollution group. The guide can be viewed via the link below.
Developers are advised to contact our Planning service at an early stage if proposing to develop land which may be contaminated. Please view our page: Contaminated Land and Planning for further information.
The council's Building Control section is also responsible for the control of work on or near to sites contaminated by industrial wastes: Telephone (0116) 252 6438.
Land Charges
The Pollution Team normally deals with commercial land, but if someone is buying a house, for example, the solicitors may contact the Council's Land Charges team, who will ask the Pollution Team to find out if the land has been contaminated in the past, as a result of rubbish or industrial processes. Please contact the pollution team regarding the fees associated with this service.
More Information
If you require further information please contact the Pollution Team or email us at pollution@leicester.gov.uk.
Also see:
Environmental Information
