Dealing with land contamination

Regulation of contaminated land

Contaminated land is regulated by the contaminated land regime. It involves the identification and remediation (cleaning up) of contaminated land that poses an unacceptable risk to human health or the environment.

Who enforces it?

Your local authority is usually responsible for operating the regime. If they can show there is a reasonable possibility that your land is contaminated, they can ask for access to inspect it and take samples. If the land is contaminated and you are responsible, you will need to agree a remediation scheme, which says how you are going to clean up the land.

If you don't agree a remediation scheme voluntarily, the local authority will issue a remediation notice which says what you need to do and gives deadlines. The local authority will consult you before they do this, unless it is an emergency. You must inform the local authority when the work has been completed.

In an emergency, the local authority may need to take remedial action. If this happens, they will recover the cost of the work from the appropriate person or persons.

Liability

There are two classes of persons who can be held accountable for contaminated land:

• Class A: the person who caused or knowingly permitted the pollutant to be present
• Class B: the owners or occupiers of the land

The local authority will try to identify a Class A person, but if they can't then a Class B person or persons may be made liable.

The local authority holds a public register of information about land which is considered to be contaminated, including remediation notices and remediation statements.

If your land is designated a Special Site the contaminated land regime is operated by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) rather than your local authority. See the page in this guide on classification of contaminated land.

 Find information on the contaminated land regime on the Department of the Environment website - Opens in a new window.

Subjects covered in this guide

Introduction
• Classification of contaminated land
• Regulation of contaminated land
• How to stop land becoming contaminated
• The risks of buying contaminated land
• Insuring against the risk of contaminated land

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