PART 1
(OPEN TO THE PUBLIC)	ITEM NO.	
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JOINT REPORT OF THE LEAD MEMBER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES AND DEVELOPMENT SERVICES
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TO THE CABINET
ON 19TH JUNE 2001
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TITLE: CONTAMINATED LAND INSPECTION STRATEGY
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RECOMMENDATIONS:
•	CABINET APPROVE THE CONTAMINATED LAND INSPECTION STRATEGY
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
In April 2000 Local Authorities were granted new powers for dealing with contaminated land.  The City of Salford has to produce a Contaminated Land Inspection Strategy outlining how the authority intends to address the issues of contaminated land by 1st July 2001.

This report provides members with a summary of the responses the City Council received to its consultation regarding the draft contaminated land inspection strategy, which went to cabinet on 10th April 2001, and outlines the implications for the City Council for this area of work.

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BACKGROUND DOCUMENTS: (available for public inspection)
City of Salford – Contaminated Land Strategy.

Joint Report of the Lead Member for Environmental Services and Development Services – Draft Contaminated Land Strategy – 10th April 2001.

City of Salford, Contaminated Land Inspection Strategy – Consultation Draft.

Joint report to Cabinet of the Director of Environmental Services and Director of Development Services – Progress report on the implementation of the statutory duty in relation to contaminated land – 9th January 2001

DETR Circular 02/2000: Environmental Protection Act 1990: Part IIA. Contaminated Land. Available on DETR Website: http:\\www.DETR.gov.uk
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CONTACT OFFICER:	Joanne Miller 	TEL NO: 793 2143
				Steph Pickford	TEL NO: 793 2116.
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WARD(S) TO WHICH REPORT RELATES (S): ALL
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KEY COUNCIL POLICIES: Regeneration Strategy, Environment Strategy and 
Economic Development, Housing Investment Programme, Unitary Development Plan
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DETAILS 
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1.0	INTRODUCTION.

1.1	The new statutory regime for the identification and control of contaminated land came into force in England on 1st April 2000, under Part II A of the Environmental Protection Act (EPA) 1990. Part IIA was inserted by Section 57 of the Environment Act 1995. 

1.2	The main purpose of Part IIA is to define contaminated land and to provide a regulatory system for the identification and remediation of land that is presenting unacceptable risks to health, controlled waters or to the environment. The legislation is underpinned by the “polluter pays” principle.

1.3	City of Salford has produced a draft contaminated land inspection strategy which went to out to public consultation on 10th April 2001.    

2.0	CONSULTEES

2.1	A wide-ranging consultation exercise was carried out.  As well as consultation required by the legislation, the City Council ensured that members of the public and other interested bodies were given the opportunity to read and respond to the draft strategy.  This was achieved by the placing the strategy on the Council’s web site and through the production of leaflets detailing the consultation exercise, which were placed in libraries and City of Salford buildings. Appendix 1 gives further details of the consultees.

3.0	CONSULTATION RESPONSES

3.1	Consultation responses were received from a wide range of organisations as shown in the table below.

Internal Consultees		Legal Services
Main Drainage
Development Control
Forward Planning
Engineers
Property Development and Property Review	
External Statutory Consultees	Environment Agency
MAFF and Food Standards Agency
English Nature
English Heritage

Note: No replies received from:
•	Regional Development Agency (North West)
•	Health and Safety Executive (HSE)
	
External non-statutory Consultees	Coal Authority
British Waterways Trust
United Utilities
GM Fire Service Petroleum Officer.
	
Others		Department of Transport Environment and the Regions (DETR)
Trafford MBC.

3.2	All comments received have been carefully considered and some changes have been made to the draft contaminated land strategy, although the strategy does follow the same framework as detailed in my report of 10th April 2001.

4.0	CHANGES TO THE DRAFT STRATEGY

4.1	In addition to a number of minor amendments relating to legislation references, contact details, new and proposed guidance, and typing corrections, the main changes are as follows:

•	Details of the consultation process undertaken
•	Clarification of procedures on land acquisition and disposal by the Council
•	Inclusion of sections concerning resource implications, and sources of funding including the Regional Development Agency (NW), DETR, etc.  
•	More detail on information exchanges needed by Development Services, both corporate (UDP, Asset Register) and national (NLUD, Land & Property Gazetteer - proposed) 
•	Inclusion of comprehensive details on the watercourses in Salford
•	Changes to text on minewater pollution, for clarification
•	Additional information on property types – protected sites (heritage), crops and livestock
•	Inclusion of brief comment on issues of blight
•	Clarification of information exchange needed on cross-boundary pollution
•	Reference to enforcement policies in operation.

5.0	IMPLEMENTATION OF THE STRATEGY

5.1	Implementation of the strategy has to be rational, ordered, efficient and proportional to the seriousness of any actual or potential risk. The most pressing and serious problems have to be considered first, searching in the places where such sites are most likely to occur. 

5.2	The size of the task and the resource implications will require some form of phased approach on considering all land in Salford in order to identify the locations of contaminated land.  In order to undertake the task Environmental Services will need to:
•	Purchase data sets
•	Undertake risk assessments for the known sites
•	Prioritise action for sites
•	Undertake detailed site investigations and risk assessments
•	Apportion liabilities to secure funding

5.3	Salford Environmental Services have located over 450 potential sites.  There will also be contaminated land that is yet to be identified in the remainder of the district. 

5.4	Investigation into the following possible sources of funding will need to be made by the Council when looking to investigate and remediate land for which it is the appropriate person, or on orphan sites for which it has taken responsibility:

•	Derelict Land Programme – Regional Development Agency (NW region)
•	Supplementary Credit Approval (SCA) funding from DETR. 
Note that SCA is a source of funding which is essentially Council borrowing over a 25 year period. The cost of borrowing (interest) is taken into account in the Standard Spending Assessments over subsequent years without penalty.
•	Red Rose Forest scheme funding
•	Mersey Basin Campaign funding

5.5	Objective 4 in Table 3 in s.3.3.3 of the Strategy identifies and suggests action towards taking responsibility for contaminated land owned by the Council, which includes consideration of future liabilities for costs.

5.6	A Scientific Officer, who was temporarily appointed as project officer, has produced the Inspection Strategy.  This temporary appointment ends on 31st August 2001.  Also a temporary Scientific Officer post was funding by Environmental Services to assist in drafting the Inspection Strategy. Funding for the temporary Scientific Officer will end at the end of July and no other source presently identified for the implementation of the strategy. Environmental Services are presently exploring ways of funding the implementation of the strategy, including; obtaining contributions for fees from other directorates such as Housing and Development Services.  However this funding is unlikely to cover the full cost of the temporary post or be equal to the SSA element of £25,000. It is vital that Council allocates the part or all the funding it receives under the SSA scheme for contaminated land responsibilities to ES.  There are no other options readily available.

6.0	CONCLUSION

6.1	A considerable amount of work has been undertaken by Environmental Services to meet the DETR deadline of the 1st July 2001. 

6.2	The Council needs to secure funding for implementing the regime, undertaking remediation and enforcement duties. There is also concern in terms of Local Authorities being responsible for covering the costs on ‘orphan sites’, particularly where issues of public health are involved. Land in Council ownership, which is found to be contaminated, will also require remediation, which will require funding.

6.3	Regenerating brownfield land is a key component of sustainable development and at the forefront of the Government Agenda in relieving development pressure, particularly housing away from greenfield land.  The new contaminated land regime will contribute towards achieving sustainable development. 

6.4	The final inspection strategy should be sent to the Environment Agency and DETR by 1st July 2001.

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APPENDIX 1

CONSULTEES

i) Leaflet

In order to publicise the location of the draft Strategy, and to invite comments, a leaflet was produced internally, giving details of:		               
•	Purpose and content of draft Inspection Strategy
•	Request for views and comments by 25 May 2001 (6 weeks consultation).
•	Location of PDF file on Salford Website (10th April to 31st May 2001)
•	Location of paper copy at Environmental Services, Crompton House
•	Address of Environmental Services and e-mail link for electronic replies. 
ii) Internal consultation
Internal consultation on the draft Inspection Strategy report was undertaken with the Council points of contact identified below and in Table 5 (1) of the Strategy, along with other interested parties. A total of 25 requests for comments were made and a leaflet enclosed. 
Circulation list:
1.	Engineering Design Manager, Development Services. FAO: Max Griffiths
2.	Development Control Manager, Development Services. FAO: Dave Jolley
3.	Building Control Manager, Development Services. FAO: Dave Woods
4.	Greater Manchester Geological Unit Director, Development Services. FAO: Scott Elliott
5.	Property Information, Development Services. FAO: Margaret Smith
6.	Architecture and Landscape Design Manager, Development Services. FAO: Mike Collier
7.	Housing Services (Strategy), Turnpike House, Eccles New Road, Salford. FAO: Bob  Osborne 
8.	Education and Leisure (Strategic Services), Education Office, Chapel Street, Salford. FAO: Greg Durkin 
9.	Assistant Director, Development Services. FAO: Chris Findlay
10.	Legal Services, Corporate Services. FAO: Ian Sheard
11.	Economic Development Manager, Chief Executive. FAO: Stuart Kitchen
12. Also: Property Development & Property Review, DS, (Richard Wynne/Peter Openshaw)
13.	ML Jassi, Director of Environmental Services
14.	Nigel Powell, Assistant Director Public Protection, Environmental Services 
15.	Dave Tinker, Environmental Services
16.	Mark Reeves, Environmental Services
17.	Malcolm Thorpe, Environmental Services
18.	Malcolm Sykes, Director of Development Services 
19.	Housing Services (Maintenance), Turnpike House, Eccles New Road. FAO: Keith Pearson 
20.	Nigel Openshaw, Main Drainage, Development Services 
21.	Nick Lowther/Dean Clapworthy, Forward Planning, Development Services. 
22.	Peter Towey, Emergency Planning Officer, Corporate Services 
23.	John Spink, Head of Finance, Corporate Services 
24.	Terry Potts, Risk Management/Insurance Officer, Corporate Services 
25.	Elaine Marks-Parker, Group Accountant, Crompton House 

iii) External statutory consultation
Consultation also took place with the 6 relevant statutory bodies identified in the statutory guidance, namely the Environment Agency, English Nature, English Heritage, North West Development Agency, MAFF (and Food Standards Agency), and the Health & Safety Executive. A leaflet was enclosed with each letter inviting comments.

	
STATUTORY CONSULTEES:	
BOLD text indicates response received	
Environment Agency     
	English Nature                	English Heritage             	
Health & Safety Executive (HSE) 

	Ministry of Agriculture,    Fisheries and Food (MAFF)

	Regional Development  Agency (NW)
Lancaster House,
Liverpool, L2 2QP.	

iv) External non-statutory consultation
Selected other external organisations or non-statutory consultees were also consulted. A total of 21 request letters were sent, each with a leaflet.

	
OTHER CONSULTEES:
(Non – statutory)

BOLD text indicates response received
	
Salford & Trafford Health Authority
	National Farmers Union, 
North West Region
	United Utilities (formerly North West Water + NORWEB)
	
Greater Manchester Archaeological Unit
	The Coal Authority
	The Coalfields Regeneration Trust
	
Lattice Property (formerly British Gas Property)	Railtrack (Property)
	National Radiological Protection Board
	
British Waterways Trust 	Food Standards Agency 	GM Fire Service 
	
Ministry of Defence (MoD)
	National House Builders Council (NHBC)
	British Geological Survey 	
Utilities: British Telecom(BT) 	Utilities: Norweb Energi 	Peel Investments (North) Ltd
	
The Environment Agency National Groundwater & Contaminated Land Centre
	DETR, Land Quality Branch, Zone 3/B3, Ashdown House, London, SW1E 6DE.	The University of Salford,
Dept. of Environmental Resources, (K.Hodgson).	

v) Council Members

Each of the Council Members (59 in total at the time) had a leaflet placed in their pigeon hole, and a paper copy of the draft Strategy was placed in the Council’s Members Room for viewing from 10th April, with a comments sheet attached.