Who has a duty to identify contaminated land and take steps to cure it?

• A. Local Authority
• B. Seller
• C. Buyer
• D. Solicitor

Answer: (A)

Under Part IIA of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, the local authority acts as the enforcing (appropriate) authority for contaminated land. Its duty is to identify land that is contaminated or potentially contaminated and to decide whether remediation is needed, potentially requiring responsible persons to carry out cleanup or carrying out remediation itself if necessary. This creates the framework for protecting health and the environment and for ensuring that costs and liability sit with those responsible for the contamination, not with private buyers or sellers by default. Buyers, sellers, and solicitors may gather information and advise, but they do not bear the statutory duty to identify or cure contaminated land.