Land can become contaminated by natural substances or from its previous use. This contamination can harm people, animals, buildings, and ecosystems, as well as pollute water.
Local authorities have a legal duty to inspect the area to identify contaminated land and ensure it is managed properly.
Environmental searches
The Council can provide you with information to complete an environmental search when buying a home.
Information is also available on closed landfill sites and permitted industrial processes.
We recommend reading our contaminated land and environmental search guidance before booking a search.
Cost of environmental searches
| Environmental search | Description | Cost per hour |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | This search only covers the footprint of your property or land and includes former historical site usage, any known site investigations, local geology and landfills, and site-specific information. | £85 |
| Extended basic | This search covers the range of information in the basic search, but also covers a 250m radius around your property or land. | £85 |
| Detailed | This search covers the footprint of the property or land, but with a further 500m radius. It also identifies local geology, open and closed landfills, permitted industrial processes, contaminated land, site investigation data, historical and current site uses, known underground storage tanks, private water supplies, and known pollution incidents. | £85 |
Information for developers
Contaminated land is a key consideration in both commercial and domestic development.
Developers are responsible for:
- Ensuring land is suitable for its intended use
- Investigating existing contamination using the source–pathway–receptor model
- Assessing whether the development could introduce new pollutant linkages
National guidance is available to support developers in managing land contamination risk.
A Council environmental search can provide a baseline of potential risks to guide development. Developers should also consider contacting the Council for a pre-application discussion as soon as they can.
Contamination land strategy
You can find information on how the Council manages contaminated land in our contaminated land strategy document.