view from the front line rob ivens mole valley district council

View from the Front line Rob Ivens Mole Valley District Council

• Why am I here– Work for a small LA’ Done quite a lot of work– We started under nuisance Circa 1998

• What is my message– Local Authorities have an important role – After 3 years of cuts 25% across the board we

are “Down but not out”

• How might things be improved

Historical Surrey

• Green and Pleasant

• No problems in our area…

1500 sites- But the vast majority are not of

regulatory concern

Local Authority Duties

• Prevent more contamination:– Planning – Other Environmental Permitting Regimes and

• Part 2A (To tackle the historic legacy)– Identifying unacceptable risks– Establishing how to fix them– Dealing with the worst sites

Development Control

• Local Authorities and the private sector can properly develop difficult site

• National Planning Policy Framework is clear about duties BUT

• Only after significant lobying….

• Noise didn’t do so well…

What is an acceptable risk….

RISK LEVEL DESCRIPTION

1 in 15 1 in 100 1 in 1,000 1 in 8,000 1 in 10,000 1 in 20,000

Risk of Hospitalisation from measles risk of death- HPA action level for RADON risk of death if none immunised child catches measles risk of death on the road Theoretical risk of adverse indications, usually measured at enzyme or sub cellular level in animals, from chemical contamination. Risk of maternal death in pregnancy

Part IIA- Prioritisation

How Do you Feel?

How long do these things take

Old Barley Mow

1998

3 years

Ranmore Common

1999

3 Years

Buckland Sandpit

2000

2 years

Headly Road Tip

2001

18 months

Greville

Court

2003

3 years

North Holmwood

2003

3 yearsCost –

of d

oing

the

work

Investigation- Aviation Works

Cost of investigation.

Total cost of decision £60KPrelim_SI £7k

12 holes

Stage_1 15k

35 Holes

Stage_2 25k

41Holes

A Predictable reaction

Duties and Powers- Costs

• When Contaminated Land is identified – Duty to Establish how to fix the problem– Duty to Attribute Costs & apportion liability– Power to remediate

• Investigations– Cost £15K-£75K per site

• Remediation costs – £8-15K a property– £300,000 to £3M+ per site

Summary

• Local Authorities can do good work – We can collaborate with private sector to– provide valuable resources and tools and– Good practice

• Money talks!– Need a “NEW DEAL” with central Government– We should be actively looking at the worst sites BUT – How an earth can Local authorities meet remediation

costs of Millions

An alternative approach

• We should not “wring our hands” despairingly– Contamination is like “noise” the ombudsman

“terrorises” EHO’s over nuisance complaints..– Central government shows little interest in “Brown

Field” contamination– Councils should fund the underlying inspection duties– Government MUST fund the resulting remediation

• Regime Change…not legislative change– Why do LA’s and residents assume this is the states

problem… – Good Practice needs to be funded in “rational

ordered and efficient manner”

• Self help- Residents collect data on there own sites at point of sale

• Central/Public portal of all decisions and remediation statements

Thanks- and some work we have funded