View from the Front line Rob Ivens Mole Valley District Council
description
Transcript of View from the Front line Rob Ivens Mole Valley District Council
View from the Front line Rob Ivens Mole Valley District Council
• Why am I here– Work for a small LA’ Done quite a lot of work– We started under nuisance Circa 1998
• What is my message– Local Authorities have an important role – After 3 years of cuts 25% across the board we
are “Down but not out”
• How might things be improved
Historical Surrey
• Green and Pleasant
• No problems in our area…
1500 sites- But the vast majority are not of
regulatory concern
Local Authority Duties
• Prevent more contamination:– Planning – Other Environmental Permitting Regimes and
• Part 2A (To tackle the historic legacy)– Identifying unacceptable risks– Establishing how to fix them– Dealing with the worst sites
Development Control
• Local Authorities and the private sector can properly develop difficult site
• National Planning Policy Framework is clear about duties BUT
• Only after significant lobying….
• Noise didn’t do so well…
What is an acceptable risk….
RISK LEVEL DESCRIPTION
1 in 15 1 in 100 1 in 1,000 1 in 8,000 1 in 10,000 1 in 20,000
Risk of Hospitalisation from measles risk of death- HPA action level for RADON risk of death if none immunised child catches measles risk of death on the road Theoretical risk of adverse indications, usually measured at enzyme or sub cellular level in animals, from chemical contamination. Risk of maternal death in pregnancy
Part IIA- Prioritisation
How Do you Feel?
How long do these things take
Old Barley Mow
1998
3 years
Ranmore Common
1999
3 Years
Buckland Sandpit
2000
2 years
Headly Road Tip
2001
18 months
Greville
Court
2003
3 years
North Holmwood
2003
3 yearsCost –
of d
oing
the
work
Investigation- Aviation Works
Cost of investigation.
Total cost of decision £60KPrelim_SI £7k
12 holes
Stage_1 15k
35 Holes
Stage_2 25k
41Holes
A Predictable reaction
Duties and Powers- Costs
• When Contaminated Land is identified – Duty to Establish how to fix the problem– Duty to Attribute Costs & apportion liability– Power to remediate
• Investigations– Cost £15K-£75K per site
• Remediation costs – £8-15K a property– £300,000 to £3M+ per site
Summary
• Local Authorities can do good work – We can collaborate with private sector to– provide valuable resources and tools and– Good practice
• Money talks!– Need a “NEW DEAL” with central Government– We should be actively looking at the worst sites BUT – How an earth can Local authorities meet remediation
costs of Millions
An alternative approach
• We should not “wring our hands” despairingly– Contamination is like “noise” the ombudsman
“terrorises” EHO’s over nuisance complaints..– Central government shows little interest in “Brown
Field” contamination– Councils should fund the underlying inspection duties– Government MUST fund the resulting remediation
• Regime Change…not legislative change– Why do LA’s and residents assume this is the states
problem… – Good Practice needs to be funded in “rational
ordered and efficient manner”
• Self help- Residents collect data on there own sites at point of sale
• Central/Public portal of all decisions and remediation statements
Thanks- and some work we have funded