In summary we can breath a sigh of relief and carry on as before with a system that allows contaminated land to be dealt with by planning conditions.

A major update was planned but due to Covid 19 has been delayed. We have received the following email:

MESSAGE FROM ENVIRONMENT AGENCY – PLEASE SHARE.  Unfortunately I am not able to answer any specific follow on questions and cannot give a precise publication date as the publishing lead within the EA has to prioritise coronavirus work.

Dear All

In June 2019, the Environment Agency (EA) published an update to the Model procedures for the management of land contamination (CLR11).

The title of a very informative article in the September/October AGS Magazine. If you want to take advantage of the opportunities or avoid the risks of contaminated land then this article is worth a read.

It helps to underline the fact that for a successful project contaminated land has to be addressed as an integrated part of the project and not an after thought. The latter approach often leads to delays and additional costs.

A necessary evil or an unnecessary evil, whatever your view, planning conditions are part and parcel of the challenges of development. From the 1st October, an update to the Town and Country Planning Act may help to ease the pain, it will make it mandatory for Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) to liaise with applicants over the wording of pre-commencement conditions. Whilst it may not have gained as much publicity as the revised NPPF, this small legislative change is still a potentially significant shift in the operation of the planning process.

We have been please to both sponsor this guide and to take an active part in the steering group, guiding development of the guide,  described by CIRIA as “essential reading for anyone who doesn’t routinely develop brownfield sites, or for those who are up-scaling into small developments”.

Download our briefing note Category 4 Screening Levels (C4SLs)