Our responsibilities

Under part IIa of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, we have a responsibility to inspect land in the district to find out if it is contaminated. 

To make a contaminated land enquiry, please email ehealth@easthants.gov.uk

What is contaminated land?

Contaminated land is defined under section 78A (2) of part IIa of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 as:  

Any land which appears to be in such a condition, by reason of substances in, on or under the land that:

  • significant harm is being caused or there is a significant possibility of such harm being caused
  • significant pollution of controlled waters is being caused, or there is a significant possibility of such pollution being caused

In simple terms, contaminated land is land that is polluted in some way that has the potential to cause harm to people.

The council has the sole responsibility for determining whether any land appears to be contaminated.  

Deciding what is contaminated land

We need to identify a significant contaminant linkage (explained below) to declare that a land is contaminated.

A contaminant linkage has three separate elements:

  • contaminant (hazard) - a source of contamination must be present
  • receptor (target) - a receptor for that contamination to affect
  • pathway (via air, soil or water) - a pathway for the source to be able to affect the receptor

Unless all three elements of a contaminant linkage can be identified, land cannot be declared contaminated.

Land can only be declared contaminated if it is causing an unacceptable risk to human health or other specific receptors such as rivers or groundwater. 

Contaminated land inspection strategy

We produced a 'contaminated land strategy' in 2001 (updated June 2013) detailing how we will deal with land in the district that may have become contaminated.

Councils, in their role as an enforcement authority, must establish who is responsible for cleaning up of any land that is contaminated.

We may reach an agreement with the responsible party or more formal action may be needed in some cases and a remediation notice may be served.

In some circumstances we may have to clean up the land and seek to recover our costs.