Local authorities in Scotland have inspected 40% of sites suspected of being contaminated, but only 2% have been cleaned up, and none of these following council intervention under the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency reported that 82,034ha of land in total needs to be inspected by councils under Section 2A of the Act, introduced nine years ago, and to arrange for those liable to pay for its remediation.
Local authorities have inspected one-fifth of sites under the Act, but have determined 13 sites, or 53ha in total, and served remediation notices for five of these.
SEPA acknowledged, however, that ‘determination can be a long and complex process’, which ‘goes some way towards explaining why’ only six authorities – Dumfries & Galloway, Moray, West Dunbartonshire, Dundee, Aberdeenshire and Highland – had formally declared that sites were contaminated.
The 1,864ha of land that had been remediated in the last decade had been as part of planning applications by developers.
Contaminated land officers within local authorities said that clearer guidance on what constituted ‘an unacceptable risk’ to human health, the trigger for action to be taken by those liable, was needed. They also wanted the issue to be given a higher priority within local authorities.
The Environment Agency found earlier this year that in England and Wales, 781 sites had been determined under Section 2A of the Act, but only 144 of these had been completely remediated.
Dealing with land contamination in Scotland.
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