Contaminated land regulations
Our city has a long history of industrial activity and this has had an enormous impact on the condition of much of the land. In common with all other major cities in the UK, Manchester has a large proportion of land which has been redeveloped at least once, therefore some contamination may be present.
We are responsible for implementing the Contaminated Land Regulations. The regulations require each local authority to inspect its area to identify contaminated land. Where such land is identified local authorities must by law make the determination that land is 'contaminated land' as defined in the Act and arrange for it to be cleaned up.
Where this cannot be achieved by voluntary agreement the law requires the local authority to take legal action to clean up the land. Where no polluter or owner of the site can be found the law then requires the local authority to do the work themselves.
The regulations require that all local authorities must prepare a strategy to set out how they intend to identify and deal with contaminated land within their boundaries - ours is the Manchester's Inspection Strategy for Contaminated Land.