Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber - The Guildhall. View directions

Contact: James Welbourn  Democratic and Civic Officer

Note: Regulatory Committee will meet at the risng of Licensing Committee. 

Media

Items
No. Item

11.

Public Participation

Up to 15 minutes are allowed for public participation.  Participants are restricted to 3 minutes each.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

There was no public participation.

12.

Declarations of Interest

Members may make declarations of Interest at this point or may make them at any point in the meeting

Additional documents:

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interests.

13.

Minutes of previous meeting pdf icon PDF 189 KB

To approve the minutes of the meeting of the Regulatory Meeting held on 12 September 2019.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 12 September 2019 were approved as a correct record.

14.

Contaminated Land Strategy pdf icon PDF 230 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Members considered a report on an updated contaminated land strategy.

 

The Housing and Enforcement Manager introduced the report, and highlighted the following points:

 

·         In 2018 there was a detailed audit of the food safety and environmental protection work areas.  Some aspects of the subject area of contaminated land fell within environmental protection;

 

Having an up to date Contaminated Land Strategy was a statutory requirement and was identified as an obligation of that 2018 audit;

 

·         A strategy on this topic has not been updated, or seen by Regulatory Committee (or its predecessor) since circa 2010;

 

·         There was a financial implication for this work, and there was recognition that contaminated land was a specialist area of expertise.  Some authorities do have officers that specialise in this area of work;

 

·         Some officers at West Lindsey District Council (WLDC) had been trained on prioritising Potential Contaminated Land Sites (PCLS).  However, there were resourcing implications around taking this work forward;

 

·         An external environmental consultancy firm, Delta Simons, would assist with the initial logging and prioritising of PCLS, and then WLDC would take over full control of this work;

 

·         It was unclear at this stage what the number of identified sites would be, however any sites identified as part of this work would be fully mapped on electronic systems.

 

Following this introduction, Members asked questions of the Housing and Enforcement Manager.  Further information was provided:

 

·         If a site in West Lindsey was subject to the planning process or development, then any information on contamination should be available to Enforcement Officers;

 

·         This process was trying to pull together information on contaminated sites in West Lindsey.  Historic manufacturing sites, such as those in Gainsborough would be known to Enforcement;

 

·         Contaminated land sites should be an ongoing piece of work for WLDC.  It was identified in the 2018 audit that this process had stopped;

 

·         Under usual circumstances, if contamination was identified as part of the planning process, the remediation of the site would be dealt with at this stage.  In the main, the remediation of contaminated land was the responsibility of the landowner;

 

·         Orphan sites, where the owner of a site was unknown were likely to be the responsibility of the local Council;

 

·         Contaminated sites would be given a risk score, and this score could be distributed to people or groups that enquire about these sites;

 

·         Community consultation had not been factored in because of the volume of sites.  However, there was community consultation as part of the planning process which includes Parish Council engagement.

 

RESOLVED to approve the Contaminated Land Strategy Review 2019-2024.