Contaminated Land

This is defined in Section 78A(2) of Part 2A of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 as ‘any land which appears (to the local authority in whose area it is situated) to be in such a condition, by reason of substances in, on or under the land, that:

(a) significant harm is being caused, or there is a significant possibility of such harm being caused, or

(b) pollution of controlled water is being, or is likely to be, caused.

A contaminated site (Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, 1996) is any site that, as a result of activities either previously or currently carried out on it, contains concentrations of pathogens high enough to be a hazard to health or the environment either in the current use of the site or if it is used for a different purpose.