Contaminated land can cause significant harm, or pose a risk of significant harm, because of dangerous substances in, on or under that land. Land may become contaminated as a result of industrial disposal, leakage or spillage of substances.
Owner / developer responsibilities
If you are the owner or developer of a site it is your responsibility to investigate and address land contamination issues, and to make sure that any future development is safe and suitable for use.
We strongly recommend that you appoint qualified, experienced and competent environmental consultants who can investigate any land contamination issues on your behalf, and can advise you on your legal obligations.
Get advice on contaminated land from the Environment Agency (external website).
Buying or selling a property
If you are buying or selling a property, it is important to know whether the land may be affected by contamination because of its historical uses.
Our responsibilities
We make sure that developers carry out the necessary site investigations, put forward proposals for dealing with identified contamination, and implement them responsibly and effectively.
Requesting information about land
We hold some information which can be used to help assess whether or not land may be contaminated.
You can get the factual information we hold through Environmental Information Requests, but you can only use the information for research, review or non-commercial purposes.
Find out more about Environmental Information Requests.
Report an issue
Contact us to report any issues that could cause a problem with land contamination, such as leaking heating oil tanks, or spillages of fuel.
We deal with some water contamination issues, and others are dealt with by the Environment Agency. If you would like to report an issue with water pollution, find out who to contact here.
Get advice on contaminated land from the Environment Agency (external website).
Report general flytipping here
Contaminated land register
Contaminated land register (PDF, 148KB)