§ Llew SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what her estimate is of(a) the value and (b) the acreage of contaminated land. [61964]
§ Mr. MeacherThe Environment Agency has estimated that there may be some 300,000 hectares of land in the UK affected to some extent by industrial or natural contamination. However, much of this contamination will be relatively minor. It is not possible to estimate the value of this land because the total is not derived from an assessment of individual sites and value depends on site-specific factors such as land use or planning permissions.486W Under Part IIA ("contaminated land") of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, local authorities are under a statutory duty to inspect their areas to identify contaminated land as defined in the Act. Broadly speaking, this is land which poses an unacceptable risk to human health or the environment in its current circumstances. This is an ongoing duty, which came into effect in April 2000 in England and more recently in Wales. It involves detailed risk assessments and determinations on a site-specific basis. The regime is described in DETR Circular 02/s2000, "Contaminated Land". The Environment Agency will include data in its periodic State of Contaminated Land reports, the first of which for England is due to be completed this summer. I will arrange for a copy to be placed in the Library.