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Environmental Health
Worthing Borough Council
Portland House
Worthing
West Sussex
BN11 1HS - 01903 221064
- enquiries@worthing.gov.uk
Throughout the Borough of Worthing there are a significant number of sites that may have been contaminated by previous use. This is often associated with industrial processes or activities that have now ceased, but where waste products or remaining residues could cause land contamination.
Worthing Borough Council has a duty to inspect its area for sites where land contamination may have occurred, determine sites as contaminated land where a pollutant linkage exists and ensure that the appropriate remediation and/or management of such sites is implemented
Contents
- Inspection Strategy New
- Public Register
- Developing Contaminated Land
- Environmental Information Enquiries
Inspection Strategy
A new regime for Local Authorities to deal with Contaminated Land within their areas was brought in by Part 2A of the Environmental Protection Act 1990; this regime was introduced by section 57 of the Environment Act 1995 and came into force in the UK on the 1st April 2000.
These provisions required Local Authorities to develop and publish a strategy document detailing the manner in which Worthing Borough Council will inspect their area for Contaminated Land.
Worthing Borough Council formally adopted its revised its Contaminated Land Inspection Strategy in July 2009. The revised document updates, clarifies and expands upon the information detailed in the original strategy. The revised strategy can be viewed via the link below.
Public Register
As part of the contaminated land regime, Local Authorities have a statutory obligation to keep a register of contaminated land.
The information stored on a formal register of contaminated land is that relating to regulatory action and remediation that has been undertaken at sites within the Borough.
At the present date no sites within the Borough of Worthing have been determined as ‘contaminated land’ or as ‘special sites’, and as such, there are currently no entries in the register.
Developing Contaminated Land
National Planning Policy provides that Contaminated Land is a material consideration in determining planning applications and despite the introduction of the Part 2A legislation in April 2000, the planning process still remains the main driver for dealing with land contamination.
The Local Authority has produced a planning advice note for developments on land potentially affected by contamination to give guidance to applicants on the reporting requirements expected to satisfy the planning process, i.e. to ensure that land is adequately investigated and that remediation will make the land suitable for its proposed use.
Environmental Information Enquiries
Conveyancing professionals routinely carry out ‘environmental’ searches in relation to the land or property their client is interested in buying. If potential land contamination is identified as a result of the search, further enquiries are normally made of the Local Authorities Environmental Health Department, Planning Department and Building Control Section.
The Council’s Environmental Health Department can undertaken a search of its records upon receipt of a cheque for the appropriate fee, currently £60 (made payable to Worthing Borough Council) and will produce a written report advising of any information that it holds regarding the specified site.
Please note that the Environmental Health Department makes no claims to have comprehensive records and will take no responsibility for any omissions which may occur. Further relevant information regarding any site may be held by other Council Sections/Departments and/or external agencies, who should be consulted independently. Any information provided should not be substituted for your own thorough site investigation, which may necessitate intrusive investigation and sampling.
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