Councils should give away toxic sites: minister

Contaminated council land should be given away so that developers can clean it up, according to junior DEFRA minister George Eustice.

His department is axing a grant scheme that has helped councils investigate and remediate sites under the Part 2A contaminated land regime since it entered force in 2000.

Eustice said: “Local authorities across the country hold toxic assets that are something of a liability… Deals can often be reached in which the local authority effectively gives the land to a developer in return for the developer putting right the contamination.”