You can obtain information about contamination for a specific area of land by ordering an environmental search report. These reports can help with planning applications, land transfers and when buying or selling property.

The reports contain information about:

• Potentially contaminative land uses
• Part 2A of the Environmental Protection Act (1990)
• Documents that the council hold on record

The fee for obtaining an environmental search report depends on the size of the area of land and how much information you need.

If you'd like to commission a report for contaminated land, please email [email protected]

We recognise that a lot of potentially contaminated sites will be dealt with by redevelopment through the planning process. We're responsible for assessing planning applications and recommending whether Contaminated Land Planning Conditions are required. We then liaise with developers and their agents to ensure that they complete the relevant work.

Information about contaminated land, how it may affect your planning application and what to do about a contaminated land planning condition can be found in our supplementary planning document:

Technical guidance and standards concerning the investigation, risk assessment and remediation of contaminated land can be found in our contaminated land technical guidance document:

If you'd like to know if a contaminated land planning condition on a planning application has been satisfied or discharged, you can ask us to check our records for confirmation.

We charge a flat fee of £116.00 for each planning application you'd like us to check. We'll then review our records and tell you whether contaminated land planning conditions were satisfied.

If they were not, then we'll tell you what information is outstanding and provide further advice if you need it.

If you'd like to commission a review of our planning records, please ask by emailing us:

We're required by law to produce a written strategy on how we're going to carry out our contaminated land duties:

The register aims to provide a permanent record of land that is, or has been classed as a 'Special Site' and any actions taken or proposed to remediate contaminated land.

Please note that potentially contaminated land sites, sites under investigation and sites determined as contaminated land will not appear on the register unless further action is taken such as remediation.