August 2010 - Issue 113
Des Collins starts new case in Motherwell...
Motherwell residents have engaged Collins Solicitors, which successfully represented plaintiffs in the Corby case, to threaten North Lanarkshire Council with legal action
... while Council continues to test the site
Consultants have begun 16 weeks of testing groundwater and gas at the site adjoining the homes in Motherwell where residents believe contamination has affected their health
Brownfield percentage and densities are flat-lining
Revised Land Use Change Statistics for England for 2009 reveal that May's provisional estimate that overall densities had risen was in error, but show a rise in homes in flood risk areas
"Garden grabbing" move justified by brownfield stats says Shapps
Decentralisation minister Grant Shapps says the Government's decision to reclassify domestic gardens as greenfield sites was justified by the latest LUCS
Health Protection Agency next for axe
The HPA is to be abolished as a statutory organisation following a Department of Health "review" which has pledged to cut and rein in several arms length bodies
Part 2A guidance review will continue says DEFRA
DEFRA has confirmed the review of the statutory Part 2A guidance for contaminated land begun late last year will continue, following ministerial approval
No planning controls for new housing
Housing minister Grant Shapps has revealed that the Government's Community Right to Build Programme will initially have a greenfield focus
Pickles warned to think again on extreme localism
29 national organisations have warned the Government that its plans to reduce planning to the local level will damage infrastructure provision and leave the environment unprotected
BS 10175: a standard for a new decade
BS 10175: Investigation of Potentially Contaminated Sites - Code of Practice, set to be published early next year, is an important standard for the contaminated land community
