Contaminated land

Contaminated land is any land that poses an unacceptable risk to human health and/or the environment.The Rotherham borough area became primarily an industrial town over the course of the 18th Century to the 20th Century. Major coal mining (and associated industries such as chemical and coking works) and steel manufacturing industries were established over the borough, leaving behind a legacy of contaminated land. Such contaminants left behind include heavy metals, hydrocarbons, organics etc.

Contamination may also have arisen from activities associated with the infilling of land with contaminated materials, landfilling and from natural sources such as radon gas, arsenic etc.

Definition of Contaminated Land

Under Section 78A Part IIA of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, contaminated land is defined as:

Any land which appears to the local authority in whose area it is situated to be in such a condition, by reason of substances, in, on, or under the land, that:

• significant harm is being caused or there is a significant possibility of such harm being caused;
• pollution of controlled waters is being, or is likely to be caused