Useful Links and Guidance
Guidance on Contaminated Land Issues
- Note of Caution
- Council Guidance
- Environment Agency Guidance
- DEFRA Guidance
- British Standards
- Construction Industry Research and Information Association
- Building Research Establishment
- Health and Safety Executive
- British Geological Survey
- Private/Foreign Guidance
A list of publications is also available on the Department of Environment Food and Rural Affairs and the Environment Agency’s website.
A wide range of best practice guidance is available produced by various organisations. While certainly not exhaustive the following list identifies some of the key sources of guidance that you may need to refer to:
Note of Caution
Guidance is continually under development. This list is not exhaustive and the Council may not, therefore, be held responsible for the use, or failure to use appropriate guidance, whether it is listed here or not.
Council Guidance
Various guidance is available from the Council for contamination issues and is available on the relevant web page. By clicking on the areas of guidance that you are interested in you will be taken to the appropriate web page.
- General Contaminated Land strategy and guidance for the public
- Guidance and Correspondence for Development of Contaminated Land (Planning and Building Control)
- Environmental Searches and Information
- Guidance for Residential Property
- Guidance on Health Issues Arising from Contaminated Land
You may also wish to contact the Contamianted Land Offiecr directly.
Environment Agency Guidance:
The Environment Agency continue to produce a wide range of technical guidance covering all aspects of contaminated land investigation, assessment, remediation and development. The EA are responsible for producing:
- CLEA documentation (toxicological information and soil guideline values)
- Research and Development Technical Reports P5-066/TR and P5/065/TR relating to Technical Aspects of site investigation and Procedures for soil sampling strategies
- Remedial Targets Methodology
- Environment Agency technical advice to third parties on pollution of controlled waters for Part IIA of the EPA1990 (also relevant to planning)
- R&D Publication 66 - Guidance for the Safe Development of Housing on Land Affected by Contamination
- Review of Waste Management Papers (such as 27, etc.)
- Groundwater Vulnerability Maps, etc.
- Other guidance on development of conceptual models, use of risk assessment models, reinstatement of boreholes, etc.
The EA will also be able to provide site specific guidance in relation to groundwater, surface waters, extractions, discharges, industrial authorisations, waste management licensing sites, investigation, site based risk assessment, etc.
Environment Agency website.
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA):
While recently the production of guidance has been devolved to the EA, relevant documentation produced by DEFRA includes:
- CLR Publications 1-6 covering issues such as the assessment of the impact of contaminated land on groundwater, preliminary site inspections, research on industrial sites, sampling strategies, information systems and prioritisation
- Various Waste Management Papers
- Interdepartmental Committee on the Redevelopment of Contaminated Land documentation (while most values once commonly used from ICRCL documentation are now withdrawn, is documentation still contain useful information on various landuses)
- Legislation (i.e. Part IIA of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, The Environment Act 1995, The Contaminated Land (England) Regulations (2006), Water Resources Act 1991, etc.
- Statutory Guidance including DETR Circular 02/2000 for Part IIA
- Industry profiles
Defra website.
British Standards:
Various British Standards have been produced for investigation, analysis and reporting including:
- BS 10175:2001 Investigation of potentially contaminated sites - Code of practice.
- BS 5930 Code of practice for site investigation
- ISO standards for analysis and sampling(such as 13530, 10381 series 1-4, 14507, 1689, etc
British Standards website.
Construction Industry Research and Information Association:
Various industry best practice guidance including:
- Volumes I-XII relating to site investigation and remediation
- Reports 130-131 and 149-152 relating to landfill gas issues
- SP124 Barriers Liners and Cover Systems
CIRIA website.
Building Research Establishment:
Including:
- BRE Report BRE291 - Bibliography of Case Studies on Contaminated land: investigation, remediation and redevelopment
- BRE Report BRE255 - Performance of Building Materials on in Contaminated Land
- BRE Information Paper - IP2/87
Building Research Establishment website.
Health and Safety Executive:
Various publications relating to health and safety and contaminated land.
Health and Safety Executive website.
British Geological Survey:
Various publication, in particular geological mapping and associated regional memoirs and other information.
British Geological Survey website.
Private/Foreign Guidance:
There is also much privately written and produced literature, both UK and foreign based, as well as much foreign public guidance/legislation that may be relevant to the UK situation.
Useful Links to Other Websites and Information
Services based within Hackney Council
External Organisations
- British Geological Survey
Kingsley Dunham Centre, Keyworth, Nottingham, NG12 5GG
0115 936 3143
Provides information on contamination issues, geology and hydrogeology, as well as 'best practice' guidance and other publications. - Building Research Establishment
Provides 'best practice' publications for the construction industry. - British Standards Institute
The British Standards Institute produces a number of 'best practice' documents for contaminated land issues. - British Waterways
Apollo Court, 2 Bishops Square Business Park, St Albans Road West, Hatfield, Herts, AL10 9EX
0845 6715530
Any contamination issues relating to navigatable waterways. - Construction Industry Research and Information Association (CIRIA)
Provides industry 'best practice' publications. - Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)
Responsible for legislation and have a detailed website dealing with contaminated land issues. - English Nature/Natural England
Floor 6, Ashdown House, 123 Victoria Street, London, SW1E 6DE
020 79322200
Contamination issues relating to environmental designations (for example SSSIs, SPAs, etc). - English Heritage
23 Savile Row, London, W1X 1AB
0207 9733000
Contamination issues that may affect the archaeology, ancient monuments and heritage areas. - Environment Agency
Apollo Court, 2 Bishops Square Bussiness Park, St Albans Road West, Hatfield, Herts, AL10 9EX
08708 506506 - Environmental Data Services (ENDS)
Provides up-to-date information on environmental issues and lists of consultants. - Food Standards Agency
Issues relating to the production of food, including allotments and gardens. - London Fire Brigade (petroleum officer)
169 Union Street, Londo, SE1 0LL
020 8555 1200 - Health and Safety Executive
Deals with health and safety issues at work. - Health Protection Agency
HPA London, 7th Floor, Holborn Gate, 330 High Holborn, London, WC1V 7PP
020 7759 2792 - The Coal Authority
200 Lichfield Lane, Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, NG18 4RG
0845 7626848
Page updated: 15 Jun 2010
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