Developer guide

Land quality is a material planning consideration, requiring applicants to consider at the application stage, risks to human health and the environment.

The National Planning Policy Framework requires applicants to consider at the application stage, risks to human health and the environment and ensure that their site is suitable for its proposed use.

We require, as a minimum, a phase I land quality assessment to be submitted with applications, additional information regarding the types of application needing these assessments is available on our planning pages.

This guide is for property/land owners, developers, architects and surveyors in need of advice about the requirements for submissions to planning, in relation to the redevelopment of potentially contaminated land.

The potential for land to be contaminated is a material consideration for the purposes of Town and Country Planning and it places the responsibility on owners and developers to establish the extent of any potentially harmful materials on their site. It is the Local Authority’s duty to ensure that owners and developers carry out the appropriate investigations and formulate proposals for dealing with any contamination.

It is advisable to contact the Environmental Protection Officers (Land Quality) on 01752 304147 prior to submission of a planning application to discuss your proposals. Where applicable, the officers could attend relevant meetings and/or site visits to ensure that the proposals will meet the requirements of the Local Authority and save unnecessary work. If you would like to discuss an application with an Environmental Protection Officer, please contact us.

For current policy and guidance documents please visit the Environment Agency and Department of the Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) website.

For sites where elevated arsenic is an issue please see our bioaccessibility page.

Essential guidance

The guidance information listed below can be found on the links to the side of this page.

• CLR 11 - The model procedures for the management of land contamination
• The National Planning Policy Framework
• Environment Agency guidance on requirements for land contamination reports
• The Building Regulations 2000: Site preparation and resistance to contaminants and moisture:  Approved document C
• National House Building Council (NHBC) and Environment Agency and Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) guidance for the safe development of housing on land affected by contamination

Please be aware that guidance is continuously being updated and changed, the above documents are a guide and you should ensure that revisions have not been made.

Standard planning condition

The Council will apply the model planning conditions recommended by the Department for Communities and Local Government.

There will be times when different conditions are required but these are considered on a case-by-case basis.

We strongly advise anyone dealing with land contamination to appoint an appropriately qualified consultant to carry out the work. We are unable to recommend consultants, however, you can use the ENDS directory to search for services.

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