The UK Contaminated Land Regime ("Regime") was
introduced in April 2000. Under the Regime, local authorities have
a duty to identify contaminated sites within their area with a view
to ensuring that the sites are remediated if necessary. The costs
of remediation are generally apportioned on a "polluter
pays" principle, although the current landowner or occupier
can potentially be liable as the last man standing.
An Environment Agency report published earlier this year
confirmed that almost half of local authorities had made little or
no progress towards achieving their stated objectives. The report
confirmed that 781 sites had been determined by the authorities as
contaminated, of which less than 150 had been completely remediated
by March 2007.
