Environmental liabilities
Abstract
Over the last few years we have seen various attempts by government to ‘regulate’ brownfield site development and in particular to give guidance on development and contaminated land. Much technical guidance has been produced and in April 2000 the Contaminated Land Regulations were finally introduced in England.
The regulatory uncertainty which has pervaded development since before 1990 is therefore likely to diminish. However it will take time for both regulators and the industry to adjust to the regulations and to understand how they will work in practice.
In order to keep clients up to date with developments in this fast-moving area, Chaffe Street and Sinclair Knight Merz, engineering and environmental consultants, together with Aon, insurance consultants, hosted a seminar on environmental liabilities in property transactions for property professionals in Manchester on 4 July.
The seminar addressed environmental issues associated with property development and particularly those relating to the new contaminated land regulations. Topics covered were:
What is the vendor's responsibility?
What will the local authority do?
What view will the Environment Agency take?
What should a potential purchaser do?
How will investors view the site?
How can potential liabilities be minimised?