ARTICLE
26 September 2006

DEFRA Issues New Circular On Contaminated Land

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CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang

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The statutory provisions dealing with contaminated land contained in Part IIA of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 need to be read in conjunction with the statutory and other guidance issued by, in the case of England, DEFRA.
United Kingdom Environment

The statutory provisions dealing with contaminated land contained in Part IIA of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 need to be read in conjunction with the statutory and other guidance issued by, in the case of England, DEFRA.

DEFRA has issued Circular 01/2006 entitled "Environmental Protection Act 1990: Part 2A Contaminated Land". The new Circular replaces the previous guidance document – DETR Circular 02/2000.

Circular 01/2006 now combines the guidance on contaminated land with new specific guidance on radioactivity and the extension of Part 2A to address radioactivity. The previous guidance has been updated in the non-statutory sections to take account of developments since 2000, including the Contaminated Land (England) Regulations 2006 which came into force on 4th August 2006, but is otherwise substantively unchanged in most respects. DEFRA has also decided to change the way it refers to Part IIA – now referring to Part 2A.

Section 78YC of Part 2A excluded harm or pollution of controlled waters so far as attributable to the radioactive properties of any substance from the regime. However, it was always contemplated that radioactive contamination would be brought into the Part 2A regime in due course and the section also provided for the making of regulations to enable that to occur. Following the implementation of the legislative provisions bringing radioactive contaminated land into the Part 2a regime in August 2006 revisions to the guidance were required.

This article was written for Law-Now, CMS Cameron McKenna's free online information service. To register for Law-Now, please go to www.law-now.com/law-now/mondaq

Law-Now information is for general purposes and guidance only. The information and opinions expressed in all Law-Now articles are not necessarily comprehensive and do not purport to give professional or legal advice. All Law-Now information relates to circumstances prevailing at the date of its original publication and may not have been updated to reflect subsequent developments.

The original publication date for this article was 22/09/2006.

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