The Contaminated Land (Wales) Regulations 2006
| Year | 2006 |
2006 No. 2989 (W.278)
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, WALES
The Contaminated Land (Wales) Regulations 2006
Made 15th November 2006
Coming into force 10th December 2006
The National Assembly for Wales (“the National Assembly”), in exercise of the powers conferred on the Secretary of State by sections 78A(9), 78C(8) to (10), 78E(1) and (6), 78G(5) and (6)1, 78L(4)2and (5) and 78R(1), (2) and (8) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (“the 1990 Act”)3and which are now exercisable in relation to Wales by the National Assembly4, and those sections as applied in relation to harm, so far as attributable to any radioactivity possessed by any substance, by the Radioactive Contaminated Land (Modification of Enactments) (Wales) Regulations 2006 (“the Modification Regulations”)5, makes the following Regulations:
Title, commencement, application and interpretation
1.—(1) The title of these Regulations is the Contaminated Land (Wales) Regulations 2006 and they come into force on 10 December 2006.
(2) These Regulations apply in relation to Wales.
(3) In these Regulations, unless otherwise indicated—
(a)
(a) any reference to a numbered section is to the section of the 1990 Act which bears that number or, in relation to harm attributable to any radioactivity possessed by any substances, to that section as modified by the Modification Regulations; and
(b)
(b) in relation to harm, so far as attributable to any radioactivity possessed by any substances, any term defined by the 1990 Act has the meaning given to it by that Act as modified by the Modification Regulations.
Land required to be designated as a special site
2.—(1) Contaminated land of the following descriptions is prescribed for the purposes of section 78C(8) as land required to be designated as a special site—
(a)
(a) land affecting controlled waters in the circumstances specified in regulation 3;
(b)
(b) land which is contaminated land by reason of waste acid tars in, on or under the land;
(c)
(c) land on which any of the following activities have been carried on at any time—
(i) the purification (including refining) of crude petroleum or of oil extracted from petroleum, shale or any other bituminous substance except coal, or
(ii) the manufacture or processing of explosives;
(d)
(d) land on which a prescribed process designated for central control has been, or is being, carried on under an authorisation, where the process does not solely consist of things being done which are required by way of remediation;
(e)
(e) land on which an activity has been, or is being, carried on in a Part A(1) installation or by means of Part A(1) mobile plant under a permit, where the activity does not solely consist of things being done which are required by way of remediation;
(f)
(f) land within a nuclear site;
(g)
(g) land owned or occupied by or on behalf of—
(i) the Secretary of State for Defence,
(ii) the Defence Council,
(iii) an international headquarters or defence organisation, or
(iv) the service authority of a visiting force,
being land used for naval, military or air force purposes;
(h)
(h) land on which the manufacture, production or disposal of—
(i) chemical weapons,
(ii) any biological agent or toxin which falls within section 1(1)(a) of the Biological Weapons Act 19746(restriction on development of biological agents and toxins), or
(iii) any weapon, equipment or means of delivery which falls within section 1(1)(b) of that Act (restriction on development of biological weapons),
has been carried on at any time;
(i)
(i) land comprising premises which are, or were, designated by the Secretary of State by an order made under section 1(1) of the Atomic Weapons Establishment Act 19917(arrangements for development etc of nuclear devices);
(j)
(j) land to which section 30 of the Armed Forces Act 19968(land held for the benefit of Greenwich Hospital) applies;
(k)
(k) land which is contaminated land wholly or partly by virtue of any radioactivity possessed by any substance in, on or under that land; and
(l)
(l) land which is—
(i) adjoining or adjacent to land of a description specified in any of sub-paragraphs (b) to (k), and
(ii) contaminated land by virtue of substances which appear to have escaped from land of such a description.
(2) For the purposes of paragraph (1)(b), “waste acid tars” are tars which—
(a)
(a) contain sulphuric acid;
(b)
(b) were produced as a result of the refining of benzole, used lubricants or petroleum; and
(c)
(c) are, or were, stored on land used as a retention basin for the disposal of such tars.
(3) In paragraph (1)(d), “authorisation” and “prescribed process” have the same meanings as in Part I of the 1990 Act (integrated pollution control and air pollution control by local authorities) and the reference to designation for central control is a reference to designation under section 2(4) (which provides for processes to be designated for central or local control).
(4) In paragraph (1)(e), “Part A(1) installation”, “Part A(1) mobile plant” and “permit” have the same meanings as in the Pollution Prevention and Control (England and Wales) Regulations 20009.
(5) In paragraph (1)(f), “nuclear site” means—
(a)
(a) any site in respect of which, or part of which, a nuclear site licence is for the time being in force; or
(b)
(b) any site in respect of which, or part of which, after the revocation or surrender of a nuclear site licence, the period of responsibility of the licensee has not come to an end.
(6) In paragraph (5), “nuclear site licence”, “licensee” and “period of responsibility” have the meanings given by the Nuclear Installations Act 196510.
(7) For the purposes of paragraph (1)(g), land used for residential purposes or by the Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes is to be treated as land used for naval, military or air force purposes only if the land forms part of a base occupied for naval, military or air force purposes.
(8) In paragraph (1)(g)—
“international headquarters” and “defence organisation” mean, respectively, any international headquarters, and any defence organisation, designated for the purposes of the International Headquarters and Defence Organisations Act 196411;
“service authority” and “visiting force” have the same meanings as in Part I of the Visiting Forces Act 195212.
(9) In paragraph (1)(h), “chemical weapon” has the same meaning as in sub-section (1) of section 1 of the Chemical Weapons Act 199613, disregarding sub-section (2) of that section.
Pollution of controlled waters
3. The circumstances to which regulation 2(1)(a), refers are where—
(a) controlled waters which are, or are intended to be, used for the supply of drinking water for human consumption are being affected by the land and, as a result, require a treatment process or a change in such a process to be applied to those waters before use, so as to be regarded as wholesome within the meaning of Part 3 of the Water Industry Act 199114(water supply);
(b) controlled waters are being affected by the land and, as a result, those waters do not meet or are not likely to meet the criterion for classification applying to the relevant description of waters specified in regulations made under section 82 of the Water Resources Act 199115(classification of quality of waters); or
(c) controlled waters are being affected by the land and—
(i) any of the substances by reason of which the pollution of the waters is being or is likely to be caused falls within any of the families or groups of substances listed in paragraph 1 of Schedule 1 to these Regulations, and
(ii) the waters, or any part of the waters, are contained within underground strata which comprise wholly or partly any of the formations of rocks listed in paragraph 2 of Schedule 1 to these Regulations.
Content of remediation notices
4.—(1) A remediation notice must state (in addition to the matters required by section 78E(1) and (3))—
(a)
(a) the name and address of the person on whom the notice is served;
(b)
(b) the location and extent of the contaminated land to which the notice relates (in this regulation referred to as the “contaminated land in question”) in sufficient detail to enable it to be identified, whether by reference to a plan or otherwise;
(c)
(c) the date of any notice which was given under section 78B(3) to the person on whom the remediation notice is served identifying the contaminated land in question as contaminated land;
(d)
(d) whether the enforcing authority considers the person on whom the notice is served is an appropriate person by reason of—
(i) having caused or knowingly permitted the substances, or any of the substances, by reason of which the contaminated land in question is contaminated land, to be in, on or under that land, or
(ii) being the owner or occupier of the contaminated land in question;
(e)
(e) particulars of the significant harm, harm or pollution of controlled waters by reason of which the contaminated land in question is contaminated land;
(f)
(f) the substances by reason of which the contaminated land in question is contaminated land and, if any of the substances have escaped from other land, the location of that other land;
(g)
(g) the enforcing authority’s reasons for its decisions as to the things by way of remediation that the appropriate person is required to do, showing how any guidance issued by the National Assembly under section 78E(5) has been applied;
(h)
(h) where two or more persons are appropriate persons in relation to the contaminated land in question—
(i) that this is the case,
(ii) the name and address of each such person, and
(iii) the thing by way of remediation for which each such person bears responsibility;
(i)
(i) where two or more persons would, apart from section 78F(6), be appropriate persons in relation to any particular thing which is to...
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