What is the key legislation in regards to contamination?
The environmental protection act 1990
What is the RICS guidance on contamination?
RICS Guidance Note – Contamination, The Environment and Sustainability 2010
- Surveyor must know their obligations and comply with the law
- Polluter or landowner pays for the remediation
- Can use desk top studies to look as historic land uses
- Contamination can occur die to presence of diesel, radon gas, or chemicals
- Signs to look out for are bare ground – nothing growing – oil or oil drums, underground tanks
Who will generally pay for the remediation of a contaminated site?
Polluter or the land owner
What will a desktop contamination study comprise?
Consider the previous use of the site, local history and planning register
What materials generally cause contamination to exist?
- Heavy metals
- Radon and methane gas
- Diesel / oil / chemicals
What are signs of contamination that you should look out for?
- Evidence of chemicals and oils
- Oil drums
- Subsidence
- Underground tanks
- Bare ground
What are the three typical phases of an investigation into contamination?
- Phase 1 – Review of site history – desk top and inspection
- Phase 2 – Investigation to identify the nature and extent of the contamination - including soil samples
- Phase 3 – Remediation report – sets out remedial options, design requirements and monitoring standards
What should you do if there are concerns that a site has some contamination?
Suggest a specialist report
What would you do if valuing a property with suspected contamination?
- Do not provide advice until report is received
- Caveat the report highlighting the issue
- Deduct the remediation costs from the gross site value
What relief is available to those who spend money remediating certain contaminated or derelict sites, or those affected by Japanese Knotweed?
Land Remediation Relief (LRR) is a form of tax relief.
Allows companies to claim up to 150% of the cost in cleaning up the site, against their Corporation Tax bill.
What may cause contamination to occur?
- leaks and spillages from tanks and pipes
- contaminated surface runoff and flooding
- accidents or spillages during storage and transport of raw materials, intermediate products and waste materials
- disposal of waste materials on or adjacent to the site
- stack omissions resulting in contamination of the surrounding environment
- demolition of buildings that have contained contaminating material (e.g. asbestos lagging or impregnated brickwork)
- movement of contaminated surface or groundwater onto the site
- migration of toxic or explosive gases from adjacent land or underlying strata
- leaks from drains from process areas.
Do you have an example of how contaminated land may be identified?
A site can only be formally identified as contaminated land if all 3 elements of the source-pathway-target pollutant linkage are present and valid. An example could be a child (target) who eats soil (pathway is ingestion) in the garden of a house that was built on the site of a lead works (source). If any of the elements are not present or valid, the land cannot be designated as contaminated land by the enforcing authority under the statutory definition.
What are the 5 classes of targets or receptors of contaminated land?
- human beings
- ecological systems
- property in the form of crops, livestock, home-grown produce, owned or domesticated animals and wild animals subject to shooting or fishing rights
- property in the form of buildings
- controlled waters, including surface waters (rivers, lakes, etc.), drinking water abstractions and groundwater (as defined in section 104 of the Water Resources Act 1991), including aquifers.
A wide range of substances may be responsible for the classification of land as contaminated. They can generally be characterised according to the hazard they introduce. Name some Hazards and Contaminants.
