The government has come under attack after it emerged this week that new guidelines on cleaning up contaminated land would be delayed until next spring. The guidelines, an essential tool for developing brownfield land, are now nearly four years behind schedule.
“Frankly, the whole issue is an unmitigated disaster,” said PhilipWilbourn, RICS spokesman on the environment. “We have seen endless rounds of consultation, and endless broken promises from ministers. Developers and local authorities simply cannot get on with the government’s stated policy of developing brownfield land until these guidelines are finalised.”
With up to 60% contamination of brownfield land, and developers liable for the cost of decontamination, the property industry has eagerly awaited government guidance on liability and remediation. Although the Environment Act 1995 came into force more than four years ago, supplementary provisions relating to contaminated land have failed to materialise.
The DETR has now said that it will issue a “final” consultation document in mid-September and will present the guidelines to parliament after the new year.
Liberal Democrat environment spokesman Tom Brake, said: “I am disappointed that we are embarking on yet another round of consultation. Housing specialists have identified the lack of clear guidance as being the major obstacle to developing brownfield sites. Unless the government can provide clear guidelines, there is no chance that it will achieve its target of 60% development on brownfield land.”
Wilbourn added: “More than a year ago, about 50 environmental professionals sat down with the DETR and went through the draft consultation line by line. Then, nothing since – it just disappeared into a vacuum.”
Following several rounds of consultation after the last election, John Prescott told parliament that the guidelines would be published by 1 July of this year. In the spring the promise was amended to final consultation in July, with a view to legalisation in December.
“It’s something that we should worry about,” said David Gordon, environment partner at solicitors Eversheds. “This, remember, is after the first consultation was undertaken in 1996 by the previous government – so we have been going round and round this issue for a very long time.”
The comments reflect deep concern across the property industry that successive governments have failed to grasp the importance of the contaminated land issue. Under the Environment Act 1995, landowners are liable for cleaning up contamination on their own land, often when the pollution occurred before their ownership. Worries over development costs, asset valuation and portability have made them increasingly wary of investing in brownfield development.
Richard Burnett-Hall, a leading environmental lawyer and head of the UK Environmental Law Association Contaminated Land Group, described the government’s handling of the issue as “utterly incompetent and grossly negligent”.
“You only have to look at London to see brownfield sites that should have been developed but haven’t been,” he said. “People are unwilling to develop brownfield land without knowing exactly what ‘decontaminated’ means. They were going to bring in the guidance two years ago. But what they have been doing for the last two years I have no idea.”
Richard Lambert, director planning and residential affairs at the British Property Federation, said that the government’s comprehensive spending review in 1997/1998 was partly responsible for the delays. “We had the first consultation on this in 1996. At Christmas 1997 there was a real worry that the government did not have enough money for local authorities to implement the guidelines,” he said. “But not having the regime in place is unhelpful. They need to get those regulations out as quickly as possible.”
Government officials were unavailable for comment.
PLS News 27/8/99
