Contaminated Land

Many historic industrial processes (such as gasworks, mines, landfills) left chemicals in the ground which can pollute soil and groundwater.  The Council has responsibility for checking that brownfield sites in Northumberland are not causing harm to human health or the environment.

The Council has a duty to

• Identify and remove unacceptable risks to human health and the environment
• Ensure that contaminated land is made suitable for its current use
• Ensure that remediation of land is feasible and sustainable without causing unnecessary hardship, stress or further damage to the environment

The Council has a record of sites listed for further investigation and information is updated continually. A few higher risk sites are inspected every year in accordance with the Contaminated Land Strategy for Northumberland. If you have any concerns regarding contamination of your property or the past history of your site, contact the Council.

There are currently no entries on the Public Register of contaminated land. The Public Register can be inspected free of charge at the Old Fire Station, Loansdean, Morpeth NE61 2AP during office hours by appointment.

You may be interested in contaminated land because:

• you are buying a property and the environmental search has failed
• you are developing a brownfield site which may need remediation work
• you have been affected by a leak or spillage of oil or chemicals

For conveyancing queries, your enquiry will be logged as a request for information under the Environmental Information Regulations. The response will identify whether the Council considers the property to be a high priority for inspection under contaminated land legislation.

For developers, brownfield sites will need assessment to ensure that the site is suitable for its proposed use. The guidance document ‘Development on Land Affected by Contamination’ outlines procedures that we would expect developers to follow. It is preferable to have carried out a Phase 1 desk study prior to a planning application being submitted. This will identify whether further intrusive site investigation works are recommended to identify risks to the development.  Planning conditions may apply to investigate the site further and remediate it if necessary.

The Council investigates incidents where land has been contaminated by spillages or leaks and ensures that sites are remediated to an acceptable standard for their current use. Failure to clean up pollution could lead to land being determined as contaminated in the future.