---

Dept of the Environment Transport and the Regions

Answer

Mr. Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what progress has been made on drawing up a national register of contaminated land. [158698] Mr. Robert Ainsworth: Under Part IIA of the Environment Protection Act 1990, which came into force in England in April 2000, each local authority with borough or district functions has a duty to "cause its area to be inspected from time to time for the purpose of identifying contaminated land". Statutory guidance issued by the Secretary of State requires each local authority to take a strategic approach to carrying out this inspection function, and to describe its own particular approach in a written strategy. Under the guidance, these written strategies are required to be published by 20 June 2001. As at the beginning of April this year, the Environment Agency was able to confirm that at least 91 per cent. of authorities had work in hand to develop their inspection strategies. In any case where a local authority formally identifies any land as being contaminated land for the purposes of the Part IIA regime, either that authority or, in some cases, the Environment Agency, has a duty to ensure that appropriate remediation is carried out. Each local authority is required by section 78R of the 1990 Act to maintain a register of details of remediation carried out on contaminated land in its area. The Environment Agency has a parallel duty to compile a register of remediation on sites for which it is the enforcing authority. Part IIA does not, however, include any provisions establishing a single national register.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

158698; 367 c76-7W

Session

2000-01

Subjects

Audit Contamination Land Law and order Local government Registration

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk