Like all Scottish councils, we have a legal duty to inspect our area to identify and remediate contaminated land (remediation means cleaning it up and making it safe for its current use). This duty is under Part IIA of the Environmental Act 1990 (as amended).

Our work involves carrying out various investigations and risk assessments to make sure a site is suitable for its current use.

We’ve identified several thousand former industrial sites across Fife.

How the law defines contaminated land

The legal definition is:

"Land that appears to the local authority in whose area it is situated to be in such a condition, by reason of substances in, on or under the land that:

• significant harm is being caused or there is a significant possibility of such harm being caused
• significant pollution of the water environment is being caused or there is a significant possibility of such harm being caused

Fife's contaminated land inspection strategy

Producing an inspection strategy is one of our legal duties. It details:

• how we've identified and prioritised which sites to investigate
• information about who is responsible for contaminated land and for making it safe
• the contacts we use for specialist advice

We published our first strategy in October 2001 and have updated it several times as our programme has progressed.

How we implement our inspection strategy

Contaminated land is a complex and specialised subject, so we've contracted three professional environmental consultants who are experts in this field.

Using their knowledge and experience, and our knowledge of Fife, we work together to identify and investigate sites in line with our strategy.

How we identify potentially contaminated land

We use various sources to identify former industrial sites, including:

• historical Ordnance Survey maps
  aerial photography (historic and recent)
• Landmark Historic Land Use data
• council records
• libraries and archives

As we’ve identified so many sites (several thousand) we do a basic assessment to prioritise them.

This means we can investigate the most polluting land uses first, to make sure the sites are suited to what they’re now being used for.

How we investigate potentially contaminated land

We use a phased approach (for example, if we complete phase one and find there’s no risk, we don’t need to proceed to the next phase):

1. Desk study: We assess the risk of contamination based on what the site was used for, where it is and what we found when we visited it. If there’s a possibility of an unacceptable risk, we move on to the next phase.

2. Intrusive investigation: This may involve taking samples of soil, and water (on and below ground), and checking for gases and vapours. This can involve digging pits, boring holes and installing monitoring equipment.

This part of the investigation is designed to let us know if work is needed to clean up the land and what this is likely to involve.

3. Remediation works: Remediation means the actions (such as reducing, isolating or removing the contamination) needed to make a site safe for what it’s being used for.

For each site, we’ll draw up a report showing what steps need to be taken. Then the work will be carried out.

4. Verification: When the remediation work is complete we’ll produce a Verification Report, which confirms that the site is suitable for its current use.

What we do if land is contaminated

If we’re satisfied that a site is contaminated we must:

• find out who’s responsible for cleaning it up and making it safe
• decide what work’s needed to make the site safe (this is also known as remediation)
• make sure the work is done
• decide who pays for how much of the cost of the work

Work to make a site safe can be done by:

• the landowner, in a voluntary agreement with us
• the landowner, under a remediation notice that we can serve if we can’t reach an agreement
• those responsible for the contamination

After remedial work is complete, we’ll record the details of any actions we’ve taken to enforce the regulations governing contaminated land (for example, any remediation notices we’ve issued or appeals against them).

We record these details in the public register of contaminated land.

Special sites

We don’t have powers to enforce land contamination regulations over certain sites, including:

• those that only involve water quality
• some kinds of industrial process
• the Defence Estate (Ministry of Defence land)

In these cases, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) has enforcement powers.

If you are concerned

If you are concerned that some land may be affected by contamination then you can contact the Land & Air Quality Team.

The Contaminated Land Register

Fife’s Contaminated Land Register holds the details of any land that we’ve legally identified as contaminated.

At present, the register lists no contaminated sites.

The register does not include details of all the historic land uses or reports we’ve used while investigating potentially contaminated land.

These details are only publicly available when we’ve legally identified land as contaminated.