Where a development is proposed, it is the responsibility of the developer to ensure that contaminated land is appropriately considered and that remediation (clean-up) takes place where necessary. This ensures that land is suitable for its proposed future use and does not cause pollution of the wider environment.

Further information and advice can be found in the Yorkshire and Humberside Pollution Advisory Council's guidance for 'Development on Land Affected by Contamination' - available to download from this page.

Completing the 'Existing Use' section of the Planning Application Form

The 'Existing Use' section (usually section 15) of the planning application form requires you to identify if there is a potential for land contamination at the site or if a vulnerable use is being introduced. The following three questions must be answered :

1) Does the proposal involve land which is known to be contaminated?

This includes a development on land which has known contamination, or on land which is known to be affected by contamination.

2) Does the proposal involve land where contamination is suspected for all or part of the site?

This includes a development on or near land, which has had a potentially contaminative use. It should be noted that contamination is not restricted to land with previous industrial use; it can occur in greenfield sites as well as on previously developed land.

3) Does the proposal involve a proposed use that would be vulnerable to the presence of contamination?

For residential buildings, this includes any development of one or more dwellings.

Please note : if the answer to any of the questions in the 'Existing Use' section is 'Yes', then an appropriate contamination assessment must be submitted with the planning application.

If you are developing a residential development larger than one house or a school/nursery, play area, or allotments etc, then a full contamination assessment (also known as a preliminary risk assessment) must be submitted.

If you are developing an individual residential property, i.e. one house in a garden, then the Screening Assessment Form (available to download from this page) can be submitted as a basic contamination assessment. However, a full contamination assessment will be required if there has been a past industrial use on or adjacent to the development site.

The submission of incorrect or incomplete information could lead to lengthy delays in assessing planning applications.