Who is responsible for the costs of clearing up a contaminated land site?
The cost of remediation will fall to any person/s that FHDC can establish “knowingly permitted the substances, or any of the substances, by reason of which the Contaminated Land in question is such land to be in, on or under that land” (as defined in the Statutory Guidance). If this person cannot be established after “reasonable inquiry” then the Owner or Occupier of the land may bear the costs. Q: I have been asked to submit information relating to potential land contamination as part of my planing application. Why is this and what do you need? A: According to PPS23 the development of a site for a ‘sensitive end use’ (such any residential dwellings, play areas, schools etc…) will need as a minimum an environmental screening report to be submitted with the planning application. A screening report will typically cost in the region of £75 and take a professional environmental search specialist a few days to complete. The information contained within this report will include historical