Following on the Bawtry issue, the House of Lords are to making there
final ruling on the case in about 4 weeks time. Any thought on who will
win the case?
Do many Councils or EA officers intend to take advantage of the ruling,
should it come out in favour of the EA. I know from my own database that
Bawtry is not the only former gasworks which has been redeveloped for a
residential end use.
Whilst gasworks are an interesting example the ruling would go much
further for land owned by other utilities (e.g. local power stations), a
wide range of industries still operating and local councils (landfill
particularly).
Best Regards Russell
-----Original Message-----
From: Contaminated Land Management Discussion List
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Darren
Detheridge
Sent: 11 June 2007 10:52
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Cost Recovery/Hardship Policies
Dominic,
I have a similar problem but do not have any cost recovery hardship
policies in place. After speaking with our housing department on the
suggested hardship test in the DEFRA 01/2006 document, I was informed
that the test (cant remember its name) is no longer in existence and has
not been used for several years. Our housing team suggested using Warm
Front calculations to assess whether the residents would qualify for
reduction or waiving of costs. After looking at this test I did not
consider it suitable as it would only consider if costs could waived
with no consideration for reduction. I also did not think the criteria
were suitable as all the residents on our site would not qualify at all.
One case that was of interest is the EA v National Grid Gas last July 17
2006. In this case the EA decided that as the residents bought the
properties in good faith and were unaware of the condition of the land,
all costs were waived. I have also reviewed the remediation method
statement and it appears that residents also had the amenity value of
their land assessed (site specific) and were given a cheque after the
remediation so that they could reinstate their land.
I would be very interested in any policies that other Councils have made
on hardship/ cost recovery and any calculations used to assess any
reduction is costs. Although I think it may well be a policy decision
that our Council will have to make on the cost of remediation v bad
publicity.
>>> Dominic Levy <[log in to unmask]> 11/06/2007 09:42 >>>
SABC is 'determining' 8 private residential properties that are situated
on the site of a historical lead smelter as 'contaminated land' due to
very high levels of lead. This is on the basis of the significant
possibility of significant harm. In the absence of a Class A person,
the home owners as Class B persons are liable for the costs of
remediation.
Has anyone developed cost recovery/hardship policies having regard to
the legislation and statutory guidance and who would be willing to share
this with us?
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