Hi David,
I think this one was a LA not too far from me. If it was the same site they had a further complication that the remains of her husband had been spread in the garden as well...Imagine the headlines if the LA dug it all up!..
So:
[a] yes determine as C.L
[b] this was pre 2012 SG and without access to the data the current C.L category is unknown.
[c] We discussed this in the regional CLO group and the advice was to determine the land as contaminated land but do not remediate it until the property was either sold or went into probate as the stress to the elderly lady and reputational risks to the Council etc. were too high in my opinion. We advised to place a marker in the land searches to flag this property up if it ever sold so that the Council could negotiate remediation at this point and also get a restrictive convenient drawn into the title deeds. Also needed to advise the family on managing the risk in the meantime e.g. no growing fruit/veg, washing hands after been out in the garden, reducing amount of soil tracked back into house etc. The family understood the remediation costs would more than likely come out of the sale of the house but were more than happy about this if they were left alone
Kind regards
Dave
David Jackson
Land Quality Officer
Wakefield Council
Regeneration & Economic Growth | Environmental Health
Wakefield One | P.O Box 700 | Burton Street | Wakefield | WF1 2EB
t 0345 8506506 [Contact Centre]
m 07810152565
e [log in to unmask]
w www.wakefield.gov.uk/landquality
-----Original Message-----
From: Contaminated Land Management Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of [log in to unmask]
Sent: 13 December 2017 10:09 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Christmas Conundrum!
Dear List,
The recent “Expert” Panel (non-advice) reminded me of a Part 2A case….
An elderly lady, in her eighties, owned and lived all her life at “Gasworks Cottage”. She enjoyed gardening and had a productive vegetable patch, and had won prizes for her roses for which she was very proud! She loved having her two children and 12 grandchildren to visit, and sometimes they stayed with her over the school holidays.
Of course, the garden was part of a former gasworks. The LA-CLO had identified it as part of his Part 2A strategic inspection program and prioritised it for further detailed investigations.
The LA-CLO conducted a well-designed site investigation and identified B(a)P and other carcinogenic substances, in the near surface garden soils exceeding appropriate health screening levels. The LA-CLO refined the Conceptual Site Model to reflect the bioavailability of the contamination and the elderly lady’s low intensity and seasonal use of the site, but still found that the levels of carcinogens were well above the acceptable risk level. There was no doubt that the site met the SPOSH test for human health. The LA-CLO identified the previous users of the site (Class A) and the owner/occupier (Class B) with a view to initiating regulatory action under Part 2A.
My question for the List is,
a)Is this Part 2A “Contaminated Land”?
b)If so, what Category (1, 2, 3, or 4) should this site fall under and why?
c) What action should the LA-CLO take?
This is not a trick question! Answers please.....
David
________________________________
The WMDC Disclaimer can be found at:
http://www.wakefield.gov.uk/site/terms-and-conditions
|