Part 2A of Environmental Protection Act 1990

Part 2A of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, as inserted by Section 57 of the Environment Act 1995, was brought into force on 1 April 2000

The legal definition of contaminated land (as at April 2004, from Section 78A(2) of Part 2A of the Environmental Protection Act 1990) is:

' ...any land which appears to the local authority in whose area it is situated to be in such a condition, by reason of substances in, on or under the land, that:

significant harm is being caused or there is the significant possibility of such harm being caused; or

pollution of controlled waters is being, or is likely to be, caused...'

However, please note the future enactment of the Water Act 2003 will slightly change this definition in relation to controlled waters.

Controlled waters include all surface watercourses or bodies, including those which are man made, and also groundwater.

Development of land will have to take into account Part 2A as to alter the use of the land may bring the development inside the statutory definition of contaminated land.

A key element of the Part 2A regime is the Source-Pathway-Receptor pollutant linkage concept. The meaning of each element is as follows:

The source is the contamination in, on or under the land; the pathway is the route by which the contamination reaches the receptor; and the receptor is defined as living organisms, ecological systems or property which may be harmed

Without the clear identification of all three elements of the pollutant linkage, land cannot be identified as contaminated land under the Part 2A regime.

More information

More information on the Part 2A regime can be found on the Land and Soil Contamination Section of the Department of the Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) website.

The site also includes information on Defra policy, a Frequently Asked Questions section relating to PART 2A and external links to other sources of contaminated land information.

Go to next page: Contaminated Land Inspection Strategy

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