Contaminated land

We maintain a register of all regulatory action taken in respect of the remediation of contaminated land. You can contact us to arrange to view the register.

The register holds information relating to each site, such as:

• Address
• Approximate area
• Current use of the land
• Substances which have caused the land to be defined as contaminated

A solicitor, during conveyancing, may commission an environmental search with a commercial environmental search company. These companies hold a large amount of data obtained from historic and current Ordnance Survey data together with information from a variety of regulatory sources. They use this to establish if there is a potential for the property to be affected by contamination. These companies typically offer some form of warranty or certificate if there is little likelihood of contamination present.

My property has been awarded a certificate, does this mean it won't be affected by contamination?

If your property is awarded a certificate, it does not necessarily follow that the property will not be affected by contamination. The decision to issue a warranty or certificate is down to the judgement of the company undertaking the search. This decision is based upon facts known to and available to the search company at the time. As a result they often only indicate whether a more detailed investigation would be appropriate.

My property has been refused a certificate, does this mean it is contaminated?

A commercial search provider may refuse a certificate if there is a possibility that the property might be situated on, next to, or within a site, which has been used in potentially contaminative ways. If a certificate is refused, this does not mean that a property will be determined as contaminated land. The decision to issue a warranty or certificate is down to the judgement of the company undertaking the search. This decision is based upon facts known to and available to the search company at the time. As a result they often only indicate whether a more detailed investigation would be appropriate.

If the potential contamination is on a site of new housing, you could contact the developer, the National House Building Council or the local planning department. They may have information on the issue from the time of development. You can review many planning files for Herefordshire online using our planning application search.

We may have information about the site, including details of historic land uses, closed landfill sites, or ground investigations (for example soil testing) that have previously been carried out on, or near to a particular property. Contact us, email ethelpline@herefordshire.gov.uk or call 01432 261761 on Monday to Friday - 9am to 4.15pm to find out more.