Fogleman, V (2014) The contaminated land regime: Time for a regime that is fit for purpose (Part 2). International Journal of Law in the Built Environment, 6(1-2), pp. 129-151. ISSN 1756-1450
Abstract
Purpose: The purpose of the article is to show that the liability system established by Part 2A of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 is unfit for purpose because its mixture of joint and several liability and proportionate liability makes it impossible to implement and enforce effectively or efficiently as well as making it expensive to administer. The article aims to analyse the liability system and its effect on the implementation and enforcement of Part 2A. Design/methodology/approach: A research approach was taken to examine and analyse Part 2A and the accompanying statutory guidance, and its implementation and enforcement. This approach included researching the liability system of Part 2A in depth, liability systems in other jurisdictions to compare and contrast with the liability system in Part 2A, publications by the UK Government on the progress of Part 2A, and commentaries on Part 2A and its progress. Findings: The paper found that the liability system introduced by Part 2A is too complex to enforce effectively or efficiently. The article concludes that the result is a contaminated land regime that has failed to achieve its purpose in identifying land that poses a risk to human health and the environment and in remediating it. Originality/value: The paper is the first paper to examine and critique the liability system in Part 2A and its implementation in depth and to suggest issues to consider in its revision so as to replace the regime with a regime that is fit for purpose.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | contaminated land; Part 2a; remediation |
| Index terms: | land, enforcement, implementation, critique, contaminated land, Environmental Protection Act 1990, publication, contaminated land regime, methodology, jurisdiction, liability, human health |
| Subjects: | liability law, public and environmental health, research methods, health safety and environment, real estate economics, environmental policy, contractual arrangements, legal systems, statutes, research dissemination and communication, evaluation and assessment methods, environmental issues |
| Topics: | Legal Issues, Urban Studies, Health and Safety, Research Practice, Information Management, Procurement, Sustainability |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here