Following consideration of a report of the Group Manager for Public Health and Regulatory Services reviewing the Contaminated Land Cost Recovery Policy, the Community Policy Development Group had made the following recommendation that: the revised Contaminated Land Cost Recovery Policy be adopted.
The Cabinet Member for Community Well-Being outlined the contents of the report stating that minor amendments were incorporated into the revised policy which included the following:
· Reformatting the policy in-line with current policy document templates and changing reference to the ‘local authority’ to ‘the Council’ where necessary for clarity.
· Minor legislative updates (EU Exit regulations on Environmental Regulations in 2019 and repeal of Housing Act 1996 in England)
· Pending changes to updated Environment Agency Guidance (Land contamination: risk management (LCRM – due to replace current model procedures called CLR11 in 2020)
· Closure of the Defra Contaminated Land Capital Projects Programme in March 2017
· The updated Housing Assistance Policy 2019-22 (availability of Healthy Homes Grants in addition to the on-going Wessex Home Improvement Loan product)
· Cost recovery
Consideration was given to:
· The number of sites that had the potential to meet the definition of contaminated land
· How many times had the council secured remediation
· The financial implications for the Council.
RESOLVED that the recommendation of the Policy Development Group be approved.
(Proposed by Cllr D J Knowles and seconded by Cllr C R Slade)
Reason for Decision – there is a need for the Contaminated Land Cost Recovery Policy to be in place.
Note: *Report previously circulated, copy attached to minutes.