Agenda item

Members are asked to note that this item is due to be pre-scrutinised at a meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee scheduled to take place on 14^th October 2024.  Any recommendations arising from that meeting on this subject will be tabled for Members’ consideration at the Executive Committee meeting.

The Specialist Lead Officer (Contaminated Land) from Worcestershire Regulatory Services (WRS) presented the Contaminated Land Inspection Strategy. It was explained that six Districts across Worcestershire would be looked at as part of the review, although not in any particular order. It was noted, however, that the Redditch Borough review was the first area to undertake such a review due to the number of contaminated land sites within the Borough. 

During the presentation of the report the following was highlighted:

• Part 2A of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 placed a duty on local authorities to review and assess risks through the contaminated land regime and that from time to time, Local Authorities could cause their area to be inspected in order to ensure that this regime was being adhered to. The term ‘Contaminated Land’ covered a range of sites including petrol stations, factories, depots and launderettes. The presence of a harmful substance did not mean that land would meet the definition of “contaminated land”. However, it was reported that a very high bar must be met in order to deem it as not contaminated.
• Statutory guidance stated that action under contaminated land legislation should only be used when there was no other appropriate alternative. These included the planning and development control processes, as well as voluntary action taken by landowners to minimise the unnecessary burdens placed on taxpayers, businesses, and individuals.
• The new strategy had been amended in order to reflect the gradual reduction and withdrawal of central Government funding for Local Authority contaminated land work. It also outlined the inspection process, and the methodology applied.
• The strategy did not change the statutory responsibilities, and Local Authorities still had to adhere to the current statutory guidance.
• There were nine thousand three hundred contaminated land sites across Worcestershire and seven hundred and fifty of these were located in Redditch. This would result in a large number of inspections and investigations being carried out.

Following the presentation, the Leader thanked Officers for their detailed report and explained that it was clearly presented and therefore had allayed some concerns that had been previously raised.

Members raised questions in respect of some areas of the report, as follows:

1. Who was the responsible party when it came to remediation of contaminated land sites? - It was explained that this would be on a site-specific basis. In some cases, it might be the Council, however, the owner or a purchaser of a site might also be responsible.
2. Was the process of assessing contaminated land sites subject to quality assurance? – It was reported that there was detailed guidance and best practice guidelines in respect of this. Often these reports would be peer reviewed in order to ensure that the correct process had been undertaken. It was explained that there was a significant amount of expertise within WRS in this matter and that this level of expertise would be utilised when undertaking these kinds of inspections. This was particularly important as contaminated land site reports were usually lengthy and detailed and that a ‘fresh set of eyes’ was a useful tool when investigating.  Members welcomed this and were reassured that any guidelines were being adhered to.
3. Equality and Diversity Implications – Members were concerned that the report seemed to indicate that there were no negative equity implications as part of the strategy. However, it also outlined that historically contaminated land sites had been identified in areas of increased social deprivation. Officers explained, however, that although historically this had been the case, contaminated land could be identified anywhere within any area, either affluent or one of social deprivation. The report highlighted this and therefore stated that there were no negative equality impacts and that all sites would be investigated in detail regardless of the area in which they were located within.

Members reiterated that their concerns had been alleviated following discussions with Officers,particularly in respect of the scoring matrix contained within the strategy.

Following the discussion, the Portfolio Holder for Community Services and Regulatory Services took the opportunity to thank Officers for their detailed report.

RECOMMENDED to COUNCIL that

The Council adopt the revised Contaminated Land Inspection strategy which should be published on the Worcestershire Regulatory Services (WRS) website.