Contaminated land
Land can be contaminated with substances such as:
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heavy metals
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oils
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tars
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gases
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asbestos
This can harm people who use the land and damage the environment.
The Contaminated Land regulatory framework helps coordinate the clean-up of historically contaminated land to:
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protect human health and the environment
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make it easier to re-use brownfield sites
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promote the regeneration of urban areas
The Contaminated Land Advisory Group (CLAG) informs this work by bringing together representatives from the contaminated land community for discussion.
Enforcing authorities
We support local authorities by setting guidance to enforce the rules for cleaning up historically contaminated land.
Local authority planning processes also deal with the majority of land contamination. You should report any contaminated land concerns to your local authority in the first instance.
We support SEPA to deal with certain contaminated land sites that need specialist knowledge (‘Special Sites’), and pollution of the water environment. More information on SEPA’s work with contaminated land is available on their website.