Dealing with Contaminated Land in the Greater Manchester Area
We would like to tell you about the work that every Council in Greater Manchester has been doing to assess contaminated land in the area.
Greater Manchester has a great industrial heritage, but this has left us with a legacy of contaminated sites from activities such as industrial manufacturing, mining and waste disposal. These industrial practices have led to contamination in, or on the land, from pollutants which include heavy metals, fuels, oil and tars, chemicals and mining waste.
But things are changing and each local authority in the MAPAC area has prepared a strategy to set out how they intend to deal with contaminated land within their boundaries. They are local strategies to take into account local problems and priorities. The strategy will set out how your Council intends to identify and investigate contaminated land sites and most importantly, how they will be cleaned up.
The aim of these strategies is to eliminate risks to health and the environment, rejuvenate polluted land in Greater Manchester and bring it back into use to the benefit of local communities.
Where is today’s land pollution from?
From a society which allowed people and industry to operate on the principle of “where there’s muck there’s brass” and which did not appreciate the impacts of their activities on future generations.
- As industries developed little thought was given to waste management and the prevention of pollution.
- Since the Victorian days we have traditionally buried our waste in pits and landfill sites without considering the future impacts and risks to the environment of such practices.
Why should we be concerned?
- Contaminated land can cause harm to people, plants, wildlife, crops, property and ecological systems.
- The potential effects on human health of polluted sites are varied and can include respiratory and skin irritation, cancer, birth defects and even death.
- Human exposure routes include skin contact, eating vegetables grown in contaminated soils and inhalation of polluted dusts, volatile contaminants, and asphyxiating and potentially explosive gases.
- Such land will also have environmental liabilities associated with it, which can have serious financial and legal implications.
Local Contaminated Land Management
What have we achieved so far?
- Officers within the field of environmental health have been dealing with pollution problems and issues arising from contaminated land sites for many years. It has been part of the technical work of MAPAC since it was founded in 1986.
- Local Authorities have been identifying and monitoring Council owned landfill sites since the early 1990s. This has helped to manage sites of concern and protect adjacent housing and schools from potential risks.
- Since 1990 funds have been available from the Government to investigate and remediate Council owned landfill sites. Many Local Authorities have used this scheme to address problem sites and remove unacceptable risks to human health and the environment.
- The planning process already helps to bring ‘previously used’ land (or ‘brownfield’ sites) safely back into use and ensures that all developments close to landfill sites are built to incorporate suitable protective measures.
Dealing with Contaminated Land
What is the Government doing?
Under Part IIA of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, which came
into force on 1st April 2000, local authorities must publish a strategy
setting out how they will address contaminated land in their area.
Where this cannot be achieved by voluntary agreement the law requires the local authority to take legal action to clean up the land. Where no polluter or owner of the site can be found the law then requires the local authority to do the work themselves.
Council’s in Greater Manchester have worked together to help ensure that each local authority inspection strategy meets the requirements of the Government’s guidance. Each Council in the MAPAC area has now published their Contaminated Land Strategies and is beginning to implement their proposals.
The work involves:
- A programme to identify contaminated land in their areas.
- Identifying those responsible for cleaning up the land.
- Drawing up plans to remediate and make safe contaminated land sites.
- Keeping a public register of “contaminated land” sites.
Partnerships
Council’s cannot deal with contaminated land by themselves. Effective partnerships with other authorities and people involved with contaminated land sites are vital to solving the problem. This means working with:
- Local residents, who often have valuable knowledge about the history of local sites.
- Industry, to investigate and clean up potentially contaminated land and reduce the potential for future contaminated land.
- Polluters and owners of contaminated land to ensure it is dealt with safely.
- Planners to ensure that land is suitable and safe for new development.
- Other statutory authorities such as the Environment Agency, English Nature, English Heritage and the Food Standards Agency, to ensure that their interests are properly addressed.
- North West Development Agency and other regional and national bodies to help gain sufficient funding to deal with contaminated land.
- The Health Authorities to ensure that potential health effects of contaminated land are monitored and assessed.
How can you help?
- Whether you are from an environmental group, a representative of industry or a local resident, you can play a part in improving your local environment.
- Inform your local Council of any land that you think may be causing serious problems.
- Taking care of the environment is everyone’s responsibility. This applies if you are an individual working on improving your house or you are the managing director of a manufacturing company. Make sure you dispose of chemicals, used oil and other toxic materials properly.
- We would like to know what you think. Use our electronic feedback form to give us your comments about contaminated land matters.
Further Information
- You may wish to find out more about your local Council’s contaminated land strategy.
- Hovering over the local authority area in which you live will give you the contact details for their contaminated land service. (The same contacts can be used for further information on land searches relating to potentially contaminated land sites or other contaminated land issues).
- Clicking on the local authority area will take you to the local authority web pages which include information about their contaminated land strategy or give you the contact details for their contaminated land strategy.
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Useful Website Addresses for contaminated land
Contaminated land information from the Government’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs site.
National information about contaminated land issues from the Environment Agency.
- If you have more technical questions about particular aspects of the national contaminated land regime, there is a list of ‘frequently asked questions’ on the Agency site which may be of help. If you need more information contact your local environmental health section or the Environment Agency.
