FoE slams new environment act

Pressure group Friends of the Earth has warned that the new Environmental Protection Act is flawed on three counts. The Act, which lays down requirements for dealing with contaminated land, came into force on 1 April.

FoE said the Act implies that different clean-up standards will be acceptable depending on the end-use of the land. "This ignores real-life risks from contact with contaminated soils and could lead to remediation for low-value use (such as car parks) rather than high-value (such as playing fields) and leaves future generations with the problems of contaminated land," said FoE.

The lobby group also warned that local authorities and the Environment Agency might experience difficulties policing the legislation. FoE pointed to problems at a housing development in Enfield where the local authority "failed to police" the clean-up operations on a heavily polluted site and where EA said its safety concerns had not been addressed (CJ 19 January, page 4). FoE warned that similar incidents could occur.

FoE's third warning centred on the possibility of local authorities ignoring "orphan" sites. It said: "Local authorities have to assess their areas of contaminated land and pay for clean-ups where polluters and land-owners cannot be identified or cannot afford it themselves."

FoE is calling on environment minister Michael Meacher to set up an independent body to oversee the work of local authorities and the Environment Agency.