Steve

How do you know it is NOT contaminated without a desk study?

There are other physical constraints that a desk study could reveal and not all contamination is of industrtial origin.



Paul Nathanail
Paul Nathanail
Head, Land Quality Management

-----Original Message-----
From: Contaminated Land Management Discussion List <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wed Oct 19 17:11:17 2005
Subject: PPS23 and Residential Developments

A recent informal note from the ODPM regarding land contamination BVPI's stated in paragraph 43 "A planning application for a sensitive receptor requires a desk study, according to PPS23, even where the site has not previously been developed".
I'm currently involved in a rather weighty debate as to how you reach this conclusion from PPS23. I feel that the document is open to interpretation and prone to contradiction but have tended to be over-cautious, taking the opinion recently expressed by the ODPM.   However, my planning department, under pressure from a developer, is suggesting that we must have some basis as to why we think the land or the surrounding land may be contaminated before we require a desk study.
I'd be interested to know how other LAs are interpreting and then applying PPS23.  Do you think a sensitive proposal such as a residential development should be accompanied with a desk study as a matter of routine and if so do you apply that principle and how (i.e. do you expect to see it with the application or do you require it by condition to an approval)?
I'd like to settle this for once and for all so it would be nice to quote a recognised reference or other respected source that gives a definitive answer.  Any ides out there?

Regards

Stephen Guppy
Senior Scientific Officer
Southampton City Council
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