Section 78C: Identification and designation of special sites., Environmental Protection Act 1990

If at any time it appears to a local authority that any contaminated land in its area might be land which is required to be designated as a special site, the authority—

shall decide whether or not the land is land which is required to be so designated; and

if the authority decides that the land is land which is required to be so designated, shall give notice of that decision to the relevant persons.

For the purposes of this section, "the relevant persons" at any time in the case of any land are the persons who at that time fall within paragraphs (a) to (d) below, that is to say—

the appropriate Agency;

the owner of the land;

any person who appears to the local authority concerned to be in occupation of the whole or any part of the land; and

each person who appears to that authority to be an appropriate person.

Before making a decision under paragraph (a) of subsection (1) above in any particular case, a local authority shall request the advice of the appropriate Agency, and in making its decision shall have regard to any advice given by that Agency in response to the request.

If at any time the appropriate Agency considers that any contaminated land is land which is required to be designated as a special site, that Agency may give notice of that fact to the local authority in whose area the land is situated.

Where notice under subsection (4) above is given to a local authority, the authority shall decide whether the land in question—

is land which is required to be designated as a special site, or

is not land which is required to be so designated,

and shall give notice of that decision to the relevant persons.

Where a local authority makes a decision falling within subsection (1)(b) or (5)(a) above, the decision shall, subject to section 78D below, take effect on the day after whichever of the following events first occurs, that is to say—

the expiration of the period of twenty-one days beginning with the day on which the notice required by virtue of subsection (1)(b) or, as the case may be, (5)(a) above is given to the appropriate Agency; or

if the appropriate Agency gives notification to the local authority in question that it agrees with the decision, the giving of that notification;

and where a decision takes effect by virtue of this subsection, the local authority shall give notice of that fact to the relevant persons.

Where a decision that any land is land which is required to be designated as a special site takes effect in accordance with subsection (6) above, the notice given under subsection (1)(b) or, as the case may be, (5)(a) above shall have effect, as from the time when the decision takes effect, as the designation of that land as such a site.

For the purposes of this Part, land is required to be designated as a special site if, and only if, it is land of a description prescribed for the purposes of this subsection.

Regulations under subsection (8) above may make different provision for different cases or circumstances or different areas or localities and may, in particular, describe land by reference to the area or locality in which it is situated.

Without prejudice to the generality of his power to prescribe any description of land for the purposes of subsection (8) above, the Secretary of State, in deciding whether to prescribe a particular description of contaminated land for those purposes, may, in particular, have regard to—

whether land of the description in question appears to him to be land which is likely to be in such a condition, by reason of substances in, on or under the land that—

serious harm would or might be caused, or

serious pollution of controlled waters would or might be caused ; or

whether the appropriate Agency is likely to have expertise in dealing with the kind of significant harm, or significant pollution of controlled waters, by reason of which land of the description in question is contaminated land.

Section 78C: Identification and designation of special sites.

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