Back

Our offices will be closed over the Easter weekend from 5:30pm on Thursday 28 March. We will reopen as usual at 9am on Tuesday 2 April.

Get in Touch Menu

You can’t bury the evidence

09 July 2006

We have reported earlier this year (March 2006) on a High Court case concerning a former landfill site on which contamination had been discovered 20 years after the developer sold the last plot.

The need for sellers of potentially contaminated land to deal with it properly has been reinforced by a decision in another case, as one of the partners in our commercial property team explains.

The case arose when a coal tar pit was found in a back garden of a housing estate in Yorkshire. The Environment Agency successfully sued National Grid Gas plc for the cost of environmental cleanup works. The site, a former gas works, had been redeveloped for housing in the 1960s.

The developer no longer existed, the company having been dissolved. National Grid Gas plc was therefore made liable. Under the privatisation regime they were the ‘statutory successor’ to the gas board that had originally operated the gas works and were therefore assumed to be responsible.

The decision is important on several levels even though it is subject to appeal in the House of Lords. First, it shows that the environmental protection regime has teeth –potential polluters can be pursued for the cost of remedial work decades after contamination has occurred. Second, it is not enough to simply get an indemnity from a buyer of potentially contaminated land.

If a seller is aware that land could be contaminated, the safest option is to carry out a full environmental audit and site investigation. If any contamination is discovered, it can be dealt with there and then. The buyer’s indemnities should also be backed up by insurance.

In short, it is no longer safe to assume that the problem has gone away once the land has been sold.

As always, if you need commercial and pragmatic legal advice, we’re here to help so please get in touch.

Contact us

 

Disclaimer: All legal information is correct at the time of publication but please be aware that laws may change over time. This article contains general legal information but should not be relied upon as legal advice. Please seek professional legal advice about your specific situation - contact us; we’d be delighted to help.
Contact
Alasdair Garbutt LLB (Hons)
Partner
View profile
Alasdair Garbutt
Related services
Share this article
Resources to help

Related articles

Willans plays role in Winchcombe Arts and Community Hub

Real estate

Our real estate team has advised a local charity on its purchase of Winchcombe Methodist Church as part of their plan to open a brand-new arts, youth and community hub.…

Willans
Solicitors

Charity land: A widening of the pool

Real estate

We previously reported on the new Charities Act 2022. The first wave of provisions in relation to charity land are now in force, with more expected to be in force…

Charlotte Cowdell BA (Hons), LLB
Associate, solicitor

RAAC: How the concrete crumbles

Real estate

The discovery of failing reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) in schools just before the beginning of term certainly caught the attention of the public and the media. The problem of…

Emma Thompson LLB (Hons)
Associate, solicitor
Contact us