Contaminated Land Inspection Strategy 2024 to 2029

The Contaminated Land (England) Regulations 2006 include the description of sites which if contaminated land should be considered as a special site.

These criteria were amended in April 2012 and the current provisions are as follows.

Special Sites

1. Contaminated land of the following descriptions is prescribed for the purposes of section 78C (8) as land required to be designated as a special site:

• a) land affecting controlled waters in the circumstances specified in regulation 3
• b) land which is contaminated land by reason of waste acid tars in, on or under the land
• c) land on which any of the following activities have been carried on at any time:

(i) the purification (including refining) of crude petroleum or of oil extracted from petroleum, shale, or any other bituminous substance except coal

(ii) the manufacture or processing of explosives

• d) land on which a prescribed process designated for central control has been or is being carried on under an authorisation, where the process does not solely consist of things being done which are required by way of remediation
• e) land on which an activity has been or is being carried on in a Part A (1) installation or by means of Part A (1) mobile plant under a permit, where the activity does not solely consist of things being done which are required by way of remediation
• f) land within a nuclear site
• g) land owned or occupied by or on behalf of:

(i) The Secretary of State for Defence

(ii) The Defence Council

(iii) an international headquarters or defence organisation

(iv) the service authority of a visiting force, being land used for naval, military or air force purposes

• h) land on which the manufacture, production, or disposal of:

(i) chemical weapons

(ii) any biological agent or toxin which falls within section 1(1)(a) of the Biological Weapons Act 1974(1) (restriction on development of biological agents and toxins)

(iii) any weapon, equipment or means of delivery which falls within section 1(1)(b) of that Act (restriction on development of biological weapons), has been carried on at any time

• i) land comprising premises which are or were designated by the Secretary of State by an order made under section 1(1) of the Atomic Weapons Establishment Act 1991(2) (arrangements for development including of nuclear devices)
• j) land to which section 30 of the Armed Forces Act 1996(3) (land held for the benefit of Greenwich Hospital) applies
• k) land which is contaminated land wholly or partly by virtue of any radioactivity possessed by any substance in, on or under that land
• l) land which:

(i) is adjoining or adjacent to land of a description specified in any of subparagraphs (b) to (k)

(ii) is contaminated land by virtue of substances which appear to have escaped from land of such a description

2. for the purposes of paragraph (1)(b), "waste acid tars" are tars which:

• a) contain sulphuric acid
• b) were produced as a result of the refining of benzole, used lubricants or petroleum
• c) are or were stored on land used as a retention basin for the disposal of such tars

Regulation 3 Pollution of Controlled Waters

3. the circumstances to which regulation 2(1) (a) refers are where:

• a) controlled waters which are, or are intended to be, used for the supply of drinking water for human consumption are being affected by the land and, as a result, require a treatment process or a change in such a process to be applied to those waters before use, so as to be regarded as wholesome within the meaning of Part 3 of the Water Industry Act 1991(1) (water supply)
• b) controlled waters are being affected by the land and, as a result:

(i) those waters do not meet or are not likely to meet the criterion for classification applying to the relevant description of waters specified in regulations made under section 82 of the Water Resources Act 1991(3) (classification of quality of waters)

(ii) for controlled waters that are designated as protected areas under Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy (4), those waters do not meet the environmental objectives that apply to them under that Directive (excluding protected areas listed in paragraphs (i), (iv) and (v) of Annex IV to that Directive)

• c) controlled waters are being affected by the land and: 

(i) any of the substances by reason of which the pollution of the waters is being or is likely to be caused falls within any of the families or groups of substances listed in paragraph 1 of schedule 1 to these regulations

(ii) the waters, or any part of the waters, are contained in underground strata within the saturation zone which comprise wholly or partly any of the formations of rocks listed in paragraph 2 of schedule 1 to these regulations