An historical legacy of the Industrial Revolution has left many
parts of the United Kingdom with a substantial amount of pollutants
left in the ground with a potential to cause harm to either human
health, water courses, the built environment and ecosystems.The
Environmental Protection Act 1990 requires Local Council's to
produce a Contaminated Land Inspection Strategy. As well as aiming
to protect, the Strategy also encourages the remediation (clean up)
of polluted sites and the re-use and development of brown-field
land rather than building on greenfield sites.
The Environment Act 1995 places a duty on Local Council's to
carry out an inspection of all the land within its district to
determine whether the land has been contaminated by a previous
industrial/commercial use. A key feature of this process of
identification is that there must be a pollutant (e.g. arsenic), a
pathway (e.g. land, air, water) and a receptor (e.g. ecosystem,
human, built environment, ecosystem) present in order to classify
land as contaminated.
Therefore, the Strategy provides a system to identify land where
pollutants are causing an unacceptable risk to a receptor, upon
which the Council must ensure the site is made safe.Sites, which
pose the highest risk, are addressed first and the Council will
require the site to be cleaned to a level which is appropriate to
the level of the risk.
The Environmental Protection Team produced is currently
implementing the Strategy. The team aims to work closely with
developers, landowners, local businesses as well as regulatory
bodies to ensure that all available expertise is utilised and to
ensure that land is safe, suitable for use and does not pose a risk
to the surrounding environment.
If you are a landowner, developer or have submitted an
application regarding developing land within the District, click on
the link on the right hand side for more specific information.
Public Register
The public register of contaminated land held by this Authority
only contains sites which have been determined to be contaminated
within the statutory definition of being contaminated, and either a
Remediation Notice, Statement or Declaration has been issued. At
the time of writing (Feb 2008) there are no entries on our
register.
The Council does not (and is not required to) have a register of
land which may be contaminated, land which has pollutants on it or
which has had a past industrial usage.
Land Search Enquiries
We receive a growing number of enquiries about potential
contamination as a result of questions solicitors are asking during
property purchases. We are able to answer such questions only where
they relate to known facts and information regarding our work under
the Contaminated Land Legislation. We are not able to act in
the role of a consultant providing interpretation of facts or
advice to purchasers that goes beyond our duties under the
legislation.
Environmental Enquiries and advice for
homebuyers
We hold environmental information on a range of topics and sites
including landfill sites and prescribed industrial processes.
Enquiries are usually raised as part of property transactions or
asset management.
If you require environmental information for a particular site
within the Braintree District, you need to apply to the contact at
the foot of this page.
All enquiries are subject to a charge to cover the costs incurred
in providing the information. Your enquiry will be answered
in writing as no material information will be given over the
telephone only written responses are provided.