How is contaminated land defined?

You may have read about contaminated land and wondered exactly what that means. Is part of your land contaminated? If so, how will it affect your plans? Read on to learn more.

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Contamination

Contamination of land relates to polluting substances that are on or buried under the land. The substances can be in buildings on the land, on the ground, or under it. Any substance that could cause harm or water pollution is defined as contamination. If you or a previous owner or user of the land have stored chemicals or used the land for industrial purposes, you will need to check your land for contamination. Land contamination can be a major problem for land owners who want to make their land available for building, but there are experts at hand to help.

Council responsibilities

All local councils must identify contaminated sites in their areas, so if you are considering buying a piece of land or own one already, the council will advise you on whether they consider it to be contaminated. This responsibility is part of the Environmental Protection Act of 1990.

If you own a piece of land that is contaminated, you may need to find a land remediation service company to remedy the pollution. Expert land remediation service providers are experienced in removing contamination effectively. They can test for contamination and then work to clean up the land, giving you peace of mind. This can be particularly valuable if you want to apply to change the use of land. If you are submitting a planning application to build houses on land that was previously used for agriculture or industry, removing any contamination will be critical.

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Water pollution

If contamination from your land is spreading into groundwater, this could cause serious legal issues for you and damage to people, animals and plants around you. Expert advice and clean-up is available from companies such as https://soilfix.co.uk/services/groundwater-soil-remediation-services. It is important to tackle contaminated land quickly, before any harm comes to you, your neighbours or the local environment. A specialist company will be able to rectify the problems thoroughly, protecting you from expensive legal cases.

If you are concerned about pollution on land that you own, don’t hesitate to seek expert advice as soon as possible. Delays can be expensive and dangerous.